COLOURFULWORLD

Friday 4 September 2020

August Wrap-Up

At the beginning of the month I had an appointment with the Ophthalmologist regarding the cloudy vision in my left eye. After an uncomfortable fluorescent angiogram and eye drops that prevent you from driving for 3 or 4 hours, I was told I had premacular fibrosis or macular pucker.

If a pucker appears the macular becomes wrinkled, like paper in a printer when there's a paper jam. An operation can be done, too early for it still, but the Ophthalmologist didn't recommend it either, so I just have to get used to seeing everything blurry out of my left eye.

It's apparently a problem that comes with age, quite common after 50. Truth be told even though I work in a medical clinic I had never heard of it, nor any of my older friends have it.... Anyway so I'm officially old.

Spring is here and the flowers are blooming in my garden.

Various flowers in my garden

On the weekends when I'm painting out in the backyard I get a few visits from various birds which always makes me smile - doves, willy wagtails, magpies and honeyeaters (Meliphagidae).

We have 2 pairs of doves that visit us daily, and we put seeds for them in the bird feeder hanging on the lemon tree. Sometimes they get quite brazen and I've seen them stand by the glass kitchen sliding door, as if they want to alert us to the fact that there are no seeds in the bird feeder.
Luckily the cats are old and slow and hardly bat an eyelid when they see them walking on the deck.
One dove has been building a nest in the Bottlebrush tree. For years they just topped up a very rickety nest in the lemon tree, but this Winter Jose cut down a lot of the branches as the tree was too big and bushy, so they have changed to the tree right next to it.

The lemon tree on the left and bottlebrush tree on the right
                     
The Mom dove sitting in the nest

(top) Doves drinking water, a dove with twigs for the nest, doves on a branch (bottom) magpie, willie wagtails, doves on patio blind

Mid month we had our Verge Collection.  Most Perth councils offer a twice a year collection of your bulk rubbish - furniture, appliances, etc.
We did a bit of a clean up of our garage a few days before, donated a few items to the Buy Nothing Group, had two oversized armchairs that no one wanted and posted them on Marketplace and someone collected them a day or so later. 
Once people start putting their stuff out, you can see people driving by with vans to pick up good things. We had a few things - including 3 cane chairs, that I didn't think were good enough to give so we put them out on the verge, and a short while later they were picked up. The next day while posting a few things for sale on Marketplace I saw those chairs advertised for sale. I had to laugh...

Photos of verge collection stuff around my area


The Hall table I was given last month has been painted and styled ready for selling. 
As I mentioned in the Monday Mural post I bought 2 cheap but solid bedside tables and I've  almost finished painting them in a very soft pink. I'll probably be adding a flower decal.


I was commissioned to paint a dining room table and chairs for a lady from my "Buy Nothing Group". The chairs have been painted in a moss green, and were delivered on the 26th, and we brought home the very heavy table, and I have sanded and primed it.
I totally forgot to take a photo of the finished chairs, but will take a photo of the whole set once the table gets delivered.

Dining chairs and table to paint

Friday 28th we had dinner with our friend Idalia at her new unit in a beautiful retirement village near Fremantle.
Jose already knew the unit as he had helped her with the move, but it was my first visit, so I was shown around the spacious 3 bedroomed house and the well cared for gardens of the village, before we sat down to dinner.

Flowers in Idalia's garden at the Retirement village

She had invited another Portuguese couple with whom she's been friends for 50 years, and we had a wonderful evening listening to stories of their early days in Australia.
At the age of 88, Idalia is always the life of the party, she has so much energy and "joie de vivre", and she's always stylish and well groomed! 

For starters we had Prawn Rissoles - a delicious Portuguese snack -  I ate 3 of them, but I think Jose had about 6! and Codfish in Cream Sauce for mains.
I had taken a Chocolate Mousse for dessert and the other lady took a Passionfruit tart.

Prawn rissoles, Codfish in cream, chocolate mousse & passionfruit tart, and broccoli and chickpea salad

I forgot to take a photo of the dinner group, but this is a photo of Idalia and I taken in January this year.


And the month ended with a stunning sunset, as seen from my garden on Sunday 30th.


And these were the highlights of my August.

38 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear about your eye ~ I hope they come up with a better operation for you. I love all your flower photos and your feathered friends. I like that your area schedules the pick up for everyone so that people can purge and others recycle and reuse. Very smart. Your furniture projects look great as well as your meal ~ Enjoy

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    1. Thanks, right now I have to get used to the blurry vision. I enjoy recycling furniture and giving it a new lease of life.

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  2. Mid-September I have an appointment, too, blurry view at times, ewww, scary.
    Bad. BUT. Ingo´s Dad says: "Get old or just die", so... let´s get old!
    Your doves are like my peanut, LOL. He/she made a mess on the balcony when I forgot to put a walnut outside!
    I miss the funny magpies.

    OH! As I type it´s raining!!!!
    Sadly no smell of eucalyptus, no sound, just the TV goes blank.

    People here these "Corinna"-days put out junk to take "for free" and I often think... put it in the bin, will ya?!
    Old, burned pans and such...
    Love your work :-)
    Great being the party girl at age 88, did you speak of being "officially old"?

    Cute pic, hmmmm, and the sunset!

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    1. I quite like the magpies too Iris.
      A lot of people throw real junk out for the verge pick up, but there is a lot of good stuff, so no wonder a lot of people drive around looking for things they can reuse.

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  3. ...a colorful month! I hope that September will be great for you!

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    1. Thanks Tom, I'm looking forward to Spring weather.

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  4. Tienes un buen patio, con plantas muy bien cuidadas. Tengo dos patios y tengo macetas con plantas, en los dos patios. Ahora de verano tengo que regar las plantas a diarios, la temperatura que se ha alcanzado ha llegado y sobrepasado los 40º de máxima. Afortunadamente poco a poco van bajando las máximas.

    Que encuentres un remedio, que te alivie el problema del ojo, sin necesidad de operación.

    Besos

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    1. Hace mucho calor allí, aquí es el comienzo de la Primavera. Gracias

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  5. Another busy month Sami. Sorry to hear about your eye problem, I haven't heard of that one before. You did an excellent job with the furniture painting, looking forward to seeing the table and chairs you were commissioned to paint. I can't believe how much stuff people put out for collection, I can understand people driving around looking for that certain treasure 😉 Your garden looks a delight, love all the bird visitors 💙 We must catch up soon xox

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    1. Thanks Grace. I'm sure there are loads of good and useful things being thrown away.

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  6. I'm sorry you're having issues with your eye.
    The cat is a sweetie.

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    1. Thanks William. That is my Fluffy, always wanting to socialize with us :)

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  7. Another interesting month of your life. Not great news about your eye and I haven't heard of the problem either. To 'recycle' hard waste to someone who needs it is good but I really don't like people taking things and then selling them. But I know it happens a lot.

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    1. Thanks Andrew. Some people are just clever at making money with someone else's trash.

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  8. Dearest Sami,
    Sad to hear about your eye's problem. Hope you have still another good one. As for me, I got only one good eye, needing cataract surgery that I've postponed due to the book writing/publishing. So now I'm catching up on medical checkups.
    You have been so industrious and once again delivered a stunning hall table/coat rack combi! That is so lovely. The bedside tables, no doubt will look equally lovely when done by you.
    Oh, those birds with their little brains (how else in such tiny heads?) do figure us out real well and know how to beg for more! Love having them around. When we have breakfast we enjoy watching them around the bird bath and feeders and on the ground. And that with six kitties in residence but they are chilling on the driveway after having received their breakfast. Guess if they would not get fed, they would attack anything around.
    Idalia is such an inspiration to so many around her and even worldwide, through your blog posts! Guess by staying involved, it also keeps the mind young and active and that in return activates the body. A true blessing and the dinner sounds like having been a delicious one!
    That sunset is indeed stunning.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    1. Thanks Mariette. The other eye is still normal, and apparently this very rarely happens to both eyes.
      Idalia is an amazing lady, very inspiring for sure.

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  9. I have never heard of that eye problem, but I hope things work out and you don't need the surgery.

    Your yard and garden are beautiful. You must stay busy all the time, with work and gardening, and painting. Speaking of which, I love the furniture you changed. I'm not fond of painting real wood, but this turned out great. Good luck with getting that table done and to the client, too.

    Wow, your friend knows how to throw a party. I swear I should never visit when I'm hungry. Everything looks so good. Beautiful sunset, too, dear Sami.

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    1. Thank you Elizabeth, I'll just have to get used to blurry vision.
      I'm always busy, sometimes I think I overextend myself, but it's good to be busy, specially when doing something I love like painting.
      Idalia loves a party, anytime I invite her for a function she accepts.

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  10. Oh, you have been eating well this month! I love your new Hall table. It's fun, seeing stuff on the street like that and finding something that can be reworked (or even just fine as is). And very pretty flowers!

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    1. Thanks Jeanie, I enjoy upcycling furniture and giving it a new life.

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  11. Um Agosto muito virado para a Natureza.
    Bfds

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  12. Belo mês de Agosto!
    (Como eu percebo o José... se são bons os rissóis, apetece sempre comer mais um ou outro, ou outro ainda)
    Bom fim de semana

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    1. Obrigada Paula. Adoramos rissoes e a nao ser que se faca em casa, raramente se comem, de maneira que sao um piteu quando se encontram :) Bom fim de semana Paula

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  13. Gostei desta "revisão" do mês de Agosto e que tenha um bom Setembro.
    Um abraço e bom fim-de-semana.

    Andarilhar
    Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
    O prazer dos livros

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  14. Gee and I thought that a macular pucker was when José gently kissed your eyelids, i think that eye troubles are an expected part of aging for most of us, and manifests itself in one form or another. Right as COVID tightened its grip I was scheduled for cataract removal and then all elective surgeries were cancelled. I have just received notice from the eye surgeon that I should be on his schedule for October. I am looking forward to having all the birds look vivid again!

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    1. The joys of old age David. Because Western Australia wasn't too affected with Covid - 9 deaths in total and no community transmission in over 140 days, but borders still closed with the other States, but elective surgeries restarted in mid June.

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  15. Sad to read about your eye problem.
    Thanks for your post, Beautiful pics.
    Greetings

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  16. Sorry to read about your eye problem - the joys of getting older!

    However, your post was beautiful with so many lovely photographs.

    Have a lovely September.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thank you Jan, yes the joys of getting older... :)

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  17. You had a very busy month! I love all the flowers!

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    1. Thanks Sharon, love all the Spring flowers too :)

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  18. You are so busy all the time! :))
    Hope your eye problem stabilizes.

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  19. The eye problem is a bummer ! I hope they come up with a solution , you are too young to be old. Love the flower collages , so bright and colorful and I think the verge collection is a wonderful idea, I wish we had something like that. Too funny that someone turned around and put those chairs up for sake!

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