COLOURFULWORLD

Monday 19 October 2015

Birds and op-shop bargains


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
In Perth, today (Sunday) it was cool and we so we didn't do much.

Yesterday the weather was great with temperatures going up to 30C so we did some gardening and loaded up on our Vitamin D!

Our loquat tree was pruned (by my husband) to remove all the old fruit as to avoid fruit fly. The tree was almost depleted of fruit, and what was on the tree was already brown and dry - friends of ours love loquats and they had been here to pick fruit a couple of times as at home only my husband eats it. 

A couple of weeks ago we had a visit by these beautiful birds  part of the Parrot family - Rainbow Lorikeet. (Thanks to Gill for giving me the right name!)

They love to eat fruit and pick on the loquats on the higher branches, but of course they also make a big mess dropping fruit on the floor, leaving half eaten fruit on the tree...
They aren't scared of people either, as my husband tried shooing them away and they just ignored him and carried on eating! 
They're quite pretty though, aren't they? In Western Australia they are considered a pest as they were introduced into WA from other states and compete with local birds for food and nests.

Can you see the half eaten fruit?

During the week I sorted out the chest of drawers of the spare room and took a bag of clothes into the Salvation Army store (Salvos) in the neighbourhood. I couldn't help but have a peep around and of course walked out with more stuff.  It's all for a good cause anyway, so glad to help out!

The trays and letter holder have already been "transformed"!

A small basket (no use for it yet!), a letter holder and 2 trays - all from $3 to $5 each
An old Ikea wooden knife holder for $2  (now they sell them in bamboo for $18.99)


And this is what I did with the wooden tray - painted it white, handles in black and it now stands on my kitchen counter holding the oil and vinegar, the salt and pepper mill and my husband's piri-piri home-made concoctions.  (not a great photo, but was taken with my mobile at night)

Good bargains don't you think? Do you also buy at op-shops? Have you ever found a great item that you had to have?

Have a lovely week.

19 comments:

  1. Awww, the birds sure are so cute, so beautiful!
    The basket is one we put bread in over here (fresh bread from a real bakery).
    You´re really creative, can you come over and fix some stuff, too? :-)
    We don´t have op-shops like that over here, other than the Zweimalschön? Is this what you mean?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for enlightening me about the basket Iris. I bake my own bread in the bread machine and it wouldn't fit there, but I'll find a use for it in my study.
      Op-shops here sell stuff that people donate - books, clothes, furniture, kitchen stuff... They don't have them in Portugal either, but I find they are brilliant, you can donate your unwanted things to them and people with less money can always buy good stuff.

      Delete
  2. Good bargains, I am sure! The birds are beautiful, and they do love their fruits! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your visit Linda. The birds are beautiful but can be a bit of a nuisance too.

      Delete
  3. You are so handy, I am always amazed how you transform things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks you Marianne, I love to transform things, I keep telling my husband I need to do a woodwork course or something like that!

      Delete
  4. You made good use of our gorgeous weekend Sami. I've been driving around with my car FULL of things to go to the Salvos, all sorts, pictures even a slow cooker.. but I never seem to have time to stop and hand it in which is just crazy :) What a good use for the one tray, you have such good ideas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Grace. Sometimes it also takes me a few weeks to stop and drop the stuff.
      It's great to have somewhere to donate our unwanted things.

      Delete
  5. We have a family of those parrots in the tree across the road so I wake up to their dawn chorus everyday, for me coming from Europe they are so gorgeous and exotic, I never knew about their 28 song!
    Have a lovely creative week - love all your op shop finds!
    Wren x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's lovely Wren, here I only see the view around my house when we have fruit that theyike to eat.

      Delete
  6. The birds are so colourful and cute! It must be so nice not having to go to the zoo to see such beautiful creatures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's true Sara, even kangaroos and koalas can be seen in some more remote neighbourhoods where there is more bush.

      Delete
    2. Really? That sounds so awesome!

      Delete
  7. We have those in the tree behind our house, and they can be very noisy, but I think they look so exotic. I think in fact they are rainbow lorikeets. That tray looks so much better in white with the black handles. I volunteer at our local church markets and often come back with way more useful things than I should.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Gill, you are absolutely right!! I'm changing the link above. There are Ringneck parrots in the hills area (they are mainly green in colour), but I haven't seen them in our area.
      I try to avoid going to the op-shops otherwise I bring back more stuff that I usually don't need!!

      Delete
  8. What gorgeous birds! I've only seen them at the zoo...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really, didn't think they would be zoo material. Hope they are better behaved there, lol.

      Delete

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment.