COLOURFULWORLD

Friday 7 May 2021

April Wrap-up

On Easter Saturday, 3rd April -  I met up with two of my colleagues plus a former younger colleague who worked at the clinic part-time when she was studying Nursing. She is now fully qualified and working at one of our major hospitals. It was nice seeing her again after about 9 months, and she seems to have matured.

We didn't do anything for Easter and I spent the long weekend as well as other weekends painting furniture.  I also sold two of my pieces which was nice.

When I collected this chest of drawers I almost told the lady I didn't want it, as it was full of stickers, was painted in a cream oil paint, Yikes...It took a lot of sanding, patching up a lot of dents, etc, etc. Now with some cute paper collages, pink knobs, and pink drawer it will hopefully make a little girl happy. 



The laminate wood telephone bench was given to me through the "Buy Nothing Group". The seat was covered in a rubbery material and the foam inside had disintegrated. I imagine it was quite old. I painted it in navy blue, new foam and a pretty Australian designed fabric brought it back to life.



















I even painted two pairs of shoes which I quite liked and are comfortable. The cream pair was painted navy blue and now I can wear them to work with my navy uniform, the other pair of sandals was brown and are now painted dark gray.

It was nice to have an extra long Easter weekend from Friday to Monday and on Monday 5th, Jose and I went to dinner at Mama's Dumpling Restaurant. It was full and by the time we started eating I noticed we were the only non-Asian customers, which I suppose meant that the food was good if the Asian community patronized the restaurant.



I started doing a few sessions with a chiropractor for my lower back issues and after a few sessions I'm feeling a little bit better. A lot of stress at work and other issues don't help though...  Has anyone had chiropractic treatments?


On Friday 9th I met up with two former colleagues, Gill and Jan who are now retired at a cafe by the river - Zephyrs, in East Fremantle. Gill had been looking after her dying brother since December and managed to take some time off to have a coffee and chat.

Sadly the following day Gill messaged me that her brother had passed away. Jan and I attended the funeral about 2 weeks later and I don't think I had ever seen a funeral with so many people! There must have been close to 400 people at the church, he sure was a popular person.

Catholic church in Fremantle where the funeral was held

Also on Friday 9th, we went to the Portuguese club for the first Friday of the month Codfish dinner. Later in the evening we heard Prince Phillip had died. I quite liked him, his sense of duty and his quirky character, but he certainly reached a great age.

Grilled codfish, potatoes and chick peas

On Sunday 11th the WA Portuguese Women's Association held their first Annual General Meeting in one of the small halls of the Portuguese Club. As usual with AGM's it wasn't well attended and none of the participants volunteered for any of the positions we had. I baked the very easy almond cake to take, others took cookies, tea, coffee, etc which we shared after the meeting.


For our French lesson on the 20th, one of my class colleagues brought some "madeleines" to celebrate the teacher's birthday the following week. The teacher made tea and we had a lovely evening. I really enjoy making part of this little group.

Madeleine by Suzanne

I was thrilled to receive a parcel from a good friend in Portugal - she likes to send us Easter almonds (sugar or chocolate covered almonds), something we don't get here. She also filled up the box with little goodies like pens and post-it blocks, key-holders, shopping bags and even a small manicure container.

She usually sends us one of Portugal's best cheeses made from goat's milk in Portugal's highest mountain (Serra da Estrela), but she wasn't sure how long the parcel would take to arrive due to restricted flights between Europe and Australia and that the cheese might go off, but the parcel only took 19 days.


We had a snap 3 day lockdown from 12,01 Saturday 23rd which ended at 12,01am Tuesday 27th. Sadly the Anzac day celebrations on the 25th were unable to go ahead. This all happened because one security guard was found to be infected while at work in hotel quarantine. Luckily all his contacts were traced and tested and anyone else who had been the same venues as he had was asked to be tested. No new cases were found, hence just the 3 days lockdown and a total of 14 days of mask wearing in public, which ends at midnight from this Friday to Saturday 7/8th May.  Masks will still be needed in public transport and nursing homes and hospitals for another 7 days.

It was our second month of Autumn with still great temperatures in the high 20 degrees, with a bit of rain towards the end of the month. Still wearing short sleeves during the day, but the early mornings and after sunset the temperature drops and the days are shorter, which I hate.



The pink full moon we had on the 27th.


And I end the post with some cute photos of Twiggy and Shelley who with the cooler weather in the evenings enjoy snuggling up on the sofa near us.

Hope you had a great month too!

31 comments:

  1. O meu jeito para bricolage é abaixo de zero.
    Bfds

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    1. Se calhar sabe fazer outras coisas que eu nao sei :)
      Obrigada Pedro, bom fim de semana.

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  2. You certainly had a busy month.

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  3. Great works, but I never imagined you can paint shoes, Sami!
    The food looks good.
    Love the sign.
    Sad about the brother but sometimes it´s for the best, I think.
    Yay for the parcel. We still have code orange for Australia :-(

    Wow, autumn in t-shirt and we have 3C in Spring...
    Great sky pics! And the last made me smile :-)

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    1. Thanks Iris. Yes Gill's brother was in his 70's but had a debilitating lung disease for a few years.
      Karina also complains about the cold when it's almost Summer.

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    2. 19C, sunny today, Sami!!! Yippeeeee...

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  4. Gosh you did an amazing job on the chest of drawers Sami, all that work was worth it. Why do I always feel like a delicious treat after your monthly wrapups, so many yummy things 😉 I would never have thought to paint shoes, brilliant idea! Twiggy and Shelley look like two very content cats 💜

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    1. Thanks Grace. Always nice to treat ourselves once in a while :)
      It was easy to paint them, it goes well on leather and the patent ones had to have "ultra grip" as a base and then the paint sticks forever.
      Twiggy and Shelley are getting very spoiled :) Have a lovely weekend Grace

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  5. Tak dziękuję Agnieszak :)

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  6. ...you had a wonderful April. The telephone bench is my favorite. I hope that your May is off to a great start.

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    1. Thank you Tom. I quite like the bench too, hope it sells quickly.

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  7. I'm not a fan of painting real wood but these pieces really needed to be painted. Both turned out SO much better.

    Sorry about your friend's brother. I saw it was a Catholic funeral. The two Catholic funerals I've attended also had a lot of people in attendance. Seems Catholics think of all their parishioners as family.

    You had a really busy month and I was sorry to read about the quarantine, but at least it was caught early. Here's hoping you still have nice weather in May, too.

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    1. Both pieces I painted are mdf, not real wood. Although many people throw out real wood pieces which I would rather paint as they aren't usually in top condition. Yes, it was a Catholic funeral, I think he had lots of friends as I have been to other funerals that didn't have half as many people. Thanks Elizabeth, have a great week.

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  8. Hello Sami: I am always filled with great admiration for the way you take old pieces of furniture that would otherwise probably be consigned to the landfill, and restore them. It really is commendable, and when you have finished the results are always lovely. Well done!

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    1. Thank you David, I try my best to upcycle what I can.

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  9. You sure had a busy month! I love all the pieces you painted. The chest is really gorgeous and your sweet fur babies are adorable!

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  10. Os seus meses são sempre muito atarefados! Tem, como se costuma dizer, uma vida cheia o que é bastante saudável, fisicamente e mentalmente. É sempre um prazer ler estes posts.
    Bom fim de semana, Sami, e que o mês de maio seja um mês em cheio!! : )

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    1. Obrigada Catarina. Sempre gostei de artes e quando me sinto stressada a melhor coisa para mim e pintar e sinto-me relaxada.
      Bom fim de semana e feliz dia da Mae.

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  11. What a wonderful month you had and all that delicious food too.

    This kitties are adorable.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend, Sami. ♥

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    1. Thanks Sandee. Have a great weekend too.

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  12. Delicious looking food, gorgeous cats and what wonderful furniture. You did a fabulous job on that sweet little girl's chest. Someone should snatch that up and fast! Well done!

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    1. Thanks Jeanie. All ready for sale, hope it goes quick :)

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  13. I've had both chiropractic treatment and physiotherapy, the first costing somewhat less but I prefer the physiotherapist. She seemed to have better physical knowledge although the chiropractor was quite good too.

    Mask wearing here is compulsory on public transport and in hospitals and nursing homes, but it is all starting to fall apart with high non compliance. Masks still have to be worn in medical clinics and that is strictly enforced.

    You took pretty good moon photos and I love the first cloud photo.

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    1. Thanks Andrew. I'm finding that the chiropractic treatments are really helping me as I used to wake up with a painful back and go to sleep with a painful back and that is no longer happening. Sad about the compulsory mask wearing, I can imagine people start to feel fed up after a while. I'm glad I no longer have to wear one at work, it was quite uncomfortable! We do have the glass partition which was installed last year, and when we were wearing masks plus the glass made it difficult for the elderly patients to understand us :)

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  14. Dearest Sami,
    Your Twiggy and Shelley are spoiled little stinkers, just like our cat-babies! They love to snuggle either in a sun puddle or on something soft and warm; near their humans.
    You again pulled off some fine restoration and paint jobs. Can't believe you painted shoes... Does that paint not come off while wearing?
    Big hugs,
    Mariette

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    1. Thanks Mariette. Yes, our cats are spoiled and love to stay close to us either on the sofa or in bed. The paint takes about 3 weeks to fully cure and then it shouldn't come off. I actually wore one pair of the sandals the week after and have had no problems. But I could have also put a finishing coat on it like I usually put on high traffic pieces of furniture and then it really is long-lasting.

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  15. Well, now I'm up to date with you. Sounds like you had a good mix of fun as well as work. Love the telephone bench! You really are clever, Sami. Have a great May! :) :)

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  16. You certainly did an excellent job on the chest of drawers, look good.

    A friend of mine visited a Chiropractor for a bad back and found it improved. She now just goes every now and again if she feels some twinges.
    She also does regular back exercise which help too.

    All the best Jan

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