Monday, January 31, 2011

Getting My Jugs Out


Ever since I bought my first home when I was 19, I have loved old ceramics.  At that house I had a collection of old jugs hanging from the ceiling in the microscopic "kitchen", which was actually created in the old pantry of the house.  Those old jugs have travelled around with me to another bungalow, a grand old farm kitchen, an inner city 10th floor apartment (where they marched along the top of the built in kitchen units), and now to the kitchen at Shoestring Cottage.  That kitchen will soon be remodelled.  (But dear reader, you will be pleased to hear that the "new" kitchen has been kindly donated by my sister in law Lisa, who is installing a new kitchen, so there will be no unnecessary expenditure.)  Until then the old jugs are all hanging out together at Shoestring Cottage and catching up on old times.  You will see from the photo that there is a McAlpine refrigerator jug, very useful and sturdy.  It is amusing to see reproductions of these jugs for sale now in design stores in central Auckland, in much the same way that there are reproduction of "swan" vases available.   The squirrel "jug" must have been designed for drinking beer I think - there is no pouring lip on it - and it was kindly given to me by my sister who scoured the second hand shops looking for lovely homely things I might appreciate. 

Well my dear friends, you will be sad to hear that poor Mr Shoestring has been feeling singularly unwell.  He has had a sore back and has been unable to enjoy many activities he usually takes for granted.  (Thank goodness he is finally beginning to feel more like his usual self.)  This weekend he was able to climb up the ladder (loaned by friendly new neighbours) onto the roof and I needed to clamber up also, to lift up the sheets of roofing iron so he could enter the roofspace.  This was so we could search for a source of the dripping water which had been falling on me in a monotonous fashion in the middle of the night this weekend, when we experienced a torrential downpour similar to that we experienced last weekend.  We believe we have found it and corrected the problem.  It was a very exciting experience and Mr Shoestring is even now grinning at his recovery.  While Mr Shoestring was in the ceiling space he discovered some blackened timber beams and this confirmed what we had suspected - the reason the top had been taken off the chimney was that there had been a fire and the owners of SC did not want any repeat performance - it must have been very exciting, not to mention rather terrifying.  We are going to contact the local voluntary fire brigade to see if they have records of when this formidable event occurred.  

Monday, January 24, 2011

Best Buys in the Bedroom

This is what our bedroom looked like on the day we moved in.  There was a dusty fabric lampshade complete with fringe, an MDF "wardrobe" and some net curtains (which you can't see in this picture.)  I would say the cream coloured bedends would have to be the best buy so far.  One day we set off in search of a cup of coffee and three doors up the road a garage sale was in progress.  The bed ends cost us $20.  They were in a slightly sad state but after sanding down and a new coat of spray paint they came up a treat.  The light fitting was another great bargain.  It was $15 at Habitat for Humanity, and the rosy coloured shades were reduced to $6 per shade from $30-odd per shade at Early Settler, so they were pretty reasonable also.  The ladder which is draped with pretty old embroidered and crocheted linen came from a surplus store and cost $10, and has come in very handy.  In the photo of the table in front of the window you can see a pretty pink glass vase with zinnias in it.  My dear friend Jan gave that to me as a housewarming gift on the day we moved in, and the orchid was a present from my lovely mum.  The tall cream cupboard was another steal.  The day before we moved in to Shoestring Cottage a shop was closing down in Central Auckland and the cupboard was reduced from $1695. to $200.  It has pretty rose themed china from op ships displayed, but that doesn't show up well in the photo.  Next time!  You can see a hook made from an old spoon which was a housewarming present from our daughter Tessa, and a flying swallow was also given to me by my girls. 



The rosy bedroom
Old ladder

Pretty vase from Jan

Bargain corner cabinet

Presents from daughters








Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Kereru at Shoestring Cottage

One thing which surprised us when we moved in to Shoestring Cottage was the abundant bird life, considering that it is only metres from the main street.  But on the day when we heard the distinctive sounds of native wood pigeons' wings we were overjoyed.  To see these birds feasting on the fruits of the ornamental cherry tree was very special, especially as they seem to have no fear of humans and feed contentedly without appearing notice the people so near.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Getting Ready for Art Deco Weekend

Every year we go to Art Deco Weekend in Napier, and this year two of our daughters will be coming too.  It is held on the third weekend of February so is fast approaching.  There will be some frenzied preparations because new costumes are needed to prevent boredom setting in.  (After 10 years or so even the most beguiling costume will start to become less appealing.)  This year there is a "new" hat begging for a dress to go with it for day wear and of course something will be needed for the ball in the assembly rooms.  At Shoestring we live the frugalista lifestyle so there may be some remaking of old outfits and some recycling of fabric, but this hat really deserves to be taken out and shown a good time.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Two months at Shoestring Cottage

Since we moved into Shoestring Cottage we have been dragging away trailer loads of greenery from the very overgrown back garden and have commenced planting.  Of course since the whole idea of Shoestring is that everything must be done on the sniff of an oily rag the plants are mainly cuttings begged from my dear mum, or el cheapo seedlings from the local hardware store.  No matter, we have harvested the first tomatoes and some beans but the courgettes are refusing to set fruit - why is that? 
A very obliging cafe has provided a never ending supply of coffee grounds to mulch the soil.  Apparently this could result in acid soil so we will need to keep a careful eye on that, but so far the results have been very promising - lots of baby earthworms already appearing and a much better texture to the soil - or is that my imagination?