Sunday, January 21, 2018

Treasures

How quickly are these weeks flying by all ready! It was just last Sunday morning that as Pete and I woke up he suggested we get ready and head over early to Barooga to the swap meet that was on.  It's about an hour's drive from here and we headed along the Riverina hwy (more like a country road) enjoying the morning drive.  Plenty of kangaroos grazing in paddocks on the way over! 


 Pete has often worked over this way doing various earth working tasks including some work on this channel which we drove over. I think he was doing the rock work.  The channels work well for farmers bringing water from the Murray River to help with irrigation in both Victoria and New South Wales.

Although a smallish affair, it was very well set out on the golf course and we found some great treasures to purchase, enjoyed a coffee while we chatted to various stall holders and had a really enjoyable couple of hours before making our way back home!  The first treasure was this lovely door knocker made by an old blacksmith. I really liked it, and the fact of the being made from melted down bits and handcrafted into this piece which will be going on our front door  in Qld!

Something else I really have been wanting made for some time now is a coat rack! Pete has been doing some slabs of red gum and when I made the suggestion while we strolled around he said we would need to find some old railway pegs ......... lol, he should have known that I'd already seen a pile at one of the stalls and the fellow there was happy to part with them as 50cents each so I was happy to take the pile!  Pete can make a few spares for gifts or to sell!  He also ended up with some small wood working tools, and he found this lovely bottle which is hard to see in a photo, but it can actually only old a single stem as the inside of the bottle is shaped inwards.


Another great find were these 2 old locks that Pete set to work on once we got home and managed to get the paint off and clean them up.  They came up looking fantastic don't you think!

And it was actually Pete who encouraged me to barter on a price to bring a travelling spinners wheel back home with us .......
While he managed to find a rather large jack that apparently is needed as well .....   Neither of us could believe how many treasures we found at such wonderful prices and with such friendly people!  It was a wonderful morning! 

Here it is now, a week later ...... Pete has been fishing up near Corryong the past couple of days while I have been here at home .......... where another treasure arrived ....... yep, a bag of yarn arrived in the mail from Deramores in the UK - all cotton dk
assortments to crochet up some various items!  
Since Friday was FNSI  I decided I might work on a smaller market/ shopping bag.  Summers are hot here in Australia, so I want to work them up with cotton rather than an acrylic or wool blend.  A 10ply would be better, but unfortunately you don't get the same colour selections with 10ply as you do with 8 - so yep, I'm working with 8ply (dk).  I'm making the pattern up as I go, starting with a round section which I then added some "wings" to make it a little more elongated.  So far it seems to be doing what I'm hoping for.
Yesterday late afternoon the temperature hit 50.7 degrees celcius here!!!  It's crazy burning heat is frying some of the plants and I've been spending a lot of time trying to keep lawns and gardens watered so the place looks good when potential buyers come to look!   February is usually our worst month for dry hot weather, so I hate to think what it might be like then!  I feel very blessed to have the air conditioner working to keep it nice inside at the least!  Since I've had the water going (and the
The Male up in the gum tree keeping watch

fact that the apple trees have small very unripe apples on them), these lovely red parrots (The Australian King Parrot) have been visiting us again.  They are always here once the apples begin growing - 3 apple trees and we have yet to get 1 apple to taste!!!  We did bird net them a couple of years ago which didn't go so well being in the chook run and under a large gum tree ...........  we haven't netted since that disaster!  Its usually almost impossible to get a photo of these guys, but somehow I managed to have my phone on me and get close enough to zoom my photo camera in ......... one day I will have a small, lovely little camera that does a fantastic job of zooming in! .......... one day ....
Till next time, take care,
The female Australian King Parrot.


Sharm
PS:  And for the first time, I'm linking up with Saturdays Critters because I just discovered it!

11 comments:

bettsylyn (Lynda) said...

I got one of those decanters for my 21st birthday. It was called Kluk Kluk because as you poured from it the shape caused it to make that sound. It was a Scandinavian brand. Put some coloured liquid in it this you will find that there four outside areas as well as the middle. Enjoy.

Lin said...

Hi Sharm. What a lovely collection of goodies to bought at the sale. I love the door knocker and the locks especially. I too have one of those bottles, mine has a stopper too. We were given it by a friend from Norway who called it a glug glug decanter so similar to Lynda. We were also given a bottle of Norwegian Aquavit - firewater! - which we were told that the decanter was especially for. It is a special one that has to travel around the world by ship and has an authentication certificate on the bottle with the name of the ship it travelled on. Bottle sadly long lost.
Have a great week. xx

Susan said...

Sounds like a fun time at the market.

Sheryl said...

Interesting post Sharmayne and wonderful photos of the journey to the swap meeting, I love the odd bottle and the wonderful knocker and locks. The gum tree looks enormous.

eileeninmd said...

Hello, welcome to the critter party. The view during your drive looks pretty. Your visit to the swap meet sounds like fun, always great to look for treasures. I love the door knocker and old bottle. We could use some hot weather here, I am looking forward to Spring. I would love to see the King Parrot in person, what an awesome bird. Great find, love the photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. I appreciate your visit and comment! Happy Sunday, enjoy your day and new week ahead!

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

That is indeed a collection of treasures! I especially love the bottle and the lock. And those parrots are majestic looking creatures, though it would be nice to have some of your apples yourselves :)

Karen @ Beatrice Euphemie said...

Hi Sharm, love the treasures that you found - some wonderful and useful things to use. I love the door knocker and latches. Such beautiful hand-work on those. The bottle is interesting and I enjoyed reading the comments about it, too. I've never seen one, but now I will be keeping my eyes open! Your shopping bag is starting out very pretty. I can't imagine taking a drive and seeing kangaroos and having a red parrot in my backyard trees! Amazing! I hope it cools down for you soon. xx Karen

Janet said...

Aren't you busy! Sounds like the sale was great for you and I am sure the venders were thrilled with all your purchases! Love to see the parrot in your tree. I loved the birds in Australia - so varied and beautiful!

Narelle said...

Nothing nicer than finding a treasure at a market 😊

Binsa said...

enjoyed your post Sharmayne and I love swap meets

Mrs. Doug said...

Just to put that into perspective for our U.S. friends... that's 123 degrees F.... whew. I'd definitely need air conditioning. I was only in that kind of heat once and that was in Utah when I was a kid and the air coming in the car window felt like a furnace. I'd live in the water if I had to be in that kind of heat for any length of time. OK a little heat actually sounds nice to me right now as the high for the last 2 weeks was 30 and the low -6 (that would be -1 to -21 for our Aussie friends). You could send a "little" of that heat our way. I love your shopping bag. I made a little zipper pouch yesterday. Before Christmas I crocheted 8 hats, 2 scarves, 4 pair mittens, 1 pair of socks and this last week a small baby blanket. All have been distributed with the exception of the baby blanket. I also need to finish 3 more projects before spring and planting time. I guess it can be done since we have 2 feet of snow still on the ground. It'll be a while till that melts and the ground thaws and dries out enough to be worked. I think I want to move to Australia. Happy day to you!!!