A Little Miracle

A  week later – now after the last Lismore – I have to say it all felt like a bit of a miracle.  We did what we always do, packed the car, this time I packed up stuff and got oganised because Alan worked on Saturday – he got home and we showered gathered food – shakes in the making in the basket and set off.  As always the country was exgtraordinarily beautiful, green and mellow in the afternoon autumn light.  Mind you going the coast road, we only see the ‘country’ after we leave the highway!

As always the Lismore Workers Club delivered a very fine meal, the latest rugby Super 15 game and a lift in the bus back to our boudoir parked under the trees outside the shopping centre.  The usual 4 am start followed with the first dealers arriving about 6am.  This time I occupied the trolley return opposite Alan, it was a bit cosy but tables either side with a walkway in the centre worked well and the heavily decorated velvet ‘pelmet’ displayed beautifully at the far end.  Better to put the ‘girly’ stuff in its own place, it gets a bit overshadowed by the drama of the rusty tools.

Made a few early sales but nothing like we usually do and it all felt like a very slow day… although the ‘pelmet’ went early, contrary to doleful predictions by fellow market traders!!!   As did the cast iron ex-hospital cot which we have been carrying around, more like wheeling around, for ages… but nothing much else of note, so eventually we packed up feeling a little down in the mouth – we had counted the $50 notes and there were quite a few but it still didn’t feel terrific… When we filled the car with diesel, Alan fills and I count, we were amazed to discover that we had done double what we had predicted.  I still thought I must have made a mistake – but was able to put most of it in the bank on Monday and it was real.  Pretty good we thought, so nice to feel financially liquid for a change.  A little miracle!

But this is the inexorability of marketing – got to get more stock so that we can do the same again next time.  Which won’t be for a bit as Alan has lots of weekend shifts and I am going to South Africa to do some bonding with my childlren and grandchildren.

Nostalgia in the break

Can’t help myself!  I went to have a look at The Way we Wear at Mt Gravatt.  It had been a rough day for me – just struggling with myself and feelings of inadequacy and depression.  Still, got myself together, got lost on the way there but found the place at the Showgrounds.  A very pleasant spot with lawns and trees.   The $11.00 entrance fee was a little shock.  Seemed a lot to me to go into a shed where the stall holders had to make all sorts of ad hoc arrangements to display their wares.

Anyway in I went and looked around.  Took minutes for me to assess that I have the right sort of stuff for a fair like this.  That gave me heart.  Then I chatted to a friend who is a successful trader at this fair and she had done well on the Friday night but had found Saturday a bit slow.  Can’t imagine what Sunday will be like for them.  I moved on and had a good look at everything that was there. 

I found an eclectic mix of mainly clothes, some linen, few books, bits of china etc, dressing table stuff and lots of jewellery.  I reckon jewellery is the go if one can get enough of the right stuff at the right price.  Small, easy to transport, have to lay out a bit to display really well but profitable because people buy it and it easy for them to ‘try on’.  I think my old music will do well at such a place with its lovely old pictorial covers, also the old magazines and selected vinyls.

Now I have to gather up enough self belief to commit to spending $300 on a stall for 2 days, commit the time – 3 days including set up time – and physical strength to do it.  The big put off is the cost of the stall and in a venue as unwelcoming as a big showground shed with concrete floors and corrugated iron walls.  This latter has become a big put off for me of all the antique fairs we do except for Nambour which is in an open roofed space – has more the atmosphere of a market in Europe.

The real issue is to get the place full of stalls and punters… the punters are staying away as far as I can see.  They had 17 stalls – could have had 30 and had had 600 people through the doors by Saturday afternoon.  If each person had spent $20 that is  about $700 per stall – the stall holders should have been smiling and they weren’t.  There was a lot of stuff that was really good and very evenly priced – so either it was not what the public wanted or they were not spending!

When I had reported all this to Al last night we sighed happily and told ourselves that we were wise to be taking a break.  It has settled some of my withdrawals I must say and we also comfort ourselves with the knowledge that we can sell that sort of stuff at other veunes that do not cost us $300 to stand.

Good bits and bad pieces

I have a few things to share tonight – what do you thing it means to ‘throw a handbag’? heard in the commentary on the game between the Lions and the Stormers – they were pushing and shoving and a shirt was torn… well it is to do with the fact that they were not actually throwing punches…

I have been studying the history and origins and current shape of Australian English (AusE) and there are a lot of interesting bits to know – including that AusE is set to become the dominant lingo of the SE Pacific region… apparently it is gaining more currency than AmE!

I am not feeling that thrilled with my adopted country at the moment – Australians who vote have allowed the Labour Party in Queensland to undergo a serious drubbing at the polls. Shocking to me who think that they did well here. They have been unlucky eith the ‘unusual weather events’ but Anna Bligh as Premier could not have done more for the people on the ground. Well we now have another crowd of bloodsuckers who will protect their wealthy friends and allow the poorer types like us and those worse off to stew.

On a happier note we have repaired Bella’s bed, she now has a new hessian sling to sleep on – hope she doesn’t destroy this one as she did the last. We took her to a new leash-free doggy park yesterday morning and she had a ball playing with all the other dogs. She is such a sweet friendly creature.

She rushes around the pool when we swim which we have been doing a lot so she gets a bit of action without us going anywhere! Hope she behaves well when we take her to Auntie Angela and Uncle Kevin’s for Easter… We are hoping that Alan won’t have to work then. Life and the weather are feeling pretty good at the moment and I am reminded of what it is like to feel reasonably contented and on top of my life. Of course there are always things to be done but the wonderful thing is that they are getting done and not dragging down my soul.

I made my internal flight bookings for my trip to SA in June – that was thrilling too. So looking forward to seeing my girls again. And hopefully some friends and rellies as well. I will be looking after the little girls with Faith, the housekeeper, for a whole week while S and K are overseas… Can’t wait.

Taking a break

Alan and I have come to a solemn decision. Sparked by my back causing me considerable and continuing pain, not alleviated by panadol, we have done some introspection… We went to Nambour Collectorama and as usual did reasonably well but at packing up time I was in dreadful pain. Not the normal aching feet and back. It was intense and even a very hot shower didn’t help, nor did sitting quietly in the car.

We went to a birthday party in Brisbane afterwards and enjoyed the loving family atmosphere and sense of normal social activity. We slept in the van at our friends’ place and left early to come home. We took Bella out to Boonah for breakfast and didn’t stop talking about the Fair and the future of our trading adventures. We have just spent a bit of money on stock and replacing the gazebo after its accident at Toowoomba. We looked at the figures, returns over expenditure on individual items and thought about the costs, fuel has rocketed for example, we have to have a big job done on the van and on the house at Safety Beach, so the financial pressure is on.

The question is do we go on trading, buying and selling and exhausting ourselves and hammering our bodies, especially mine or do we pull the pin for a bit and think about what we want to do? We have decided to give trading a break. We will manage the financial pressure out of our regular earnings and then in May we might go to the
Alstonville Antiques air organised by the Rotary Club there and then in August we will go to the Rockhampton Swap and have a week away around it. We might have a garage sale before I visit South Africa so that Alan can invest in a bit more rusty stuff for Rockhampton – but for the rest we will live like normal people. Work in our garden, in our house, on my PhD, send some stuff to auctions maybe … go for walks and the beach and try and restore some quality to our lives.

We have no exciting plans, just to slow down and look after ourselves and do things more comfortably.

That song which has the words … miracles and wonders… think it was Neil Young – came to life today … I took Bella for a long walk and as I crossed the creek on the little bridge I looked over and there was a figure bent over with a little hammer fossicking in the river bed.  We chatted and he was looking for stones with plasma in them.  Apparently green, solid and sometimes transparent  – but after heavy rain is a good time to do what he was doing, the stones and pebbles are all stirred up and moved around….

Imagine, in Ipswich, coming across something so quirky and original, an old codger fossicking in the urban creek bed.  It brought I left my Hat in Andamooka by Clifford Austin to my back door!! but with a difference.   I recommend this book written in 1974 about the writer’s travels in the opal fields of Victoria and Queensland… It has been an inspiration to us for our future activity when we don’t have to work all the time.

Auctions and the Toowoomba Swop Meet

We have recently been to two auctions – one in Dalby – a farm clearance, one of those where they put out completely dead bits of rusty iron and people fight each other to acquire them at large cost!  The huge highlight was a very nice cast iron kettle, not too big with a lovely lid and finial all complete, no holes in the bottom either -it went for $300.  Why you might ask?  Well two women wanted it and the rest is history.  Another lovely highlight was the sale of two draft horses – beautiful creatures they were too.  We bought 6 beautiful American Oak carved dining table chairs with read velvet seats and the wrought iron gates from the Oakey Police station – our two top buys!!  The gates need a crane to lift them – fortunately Alan can still morph into a block and tackle!

I have been trying to take pictures of local ‘characters’ and to put them, when I get them, into the blog but just don’t seem to be able to master the technique of getting pictures into the blog,  so here is the link to the picasa web page where you will see the horses and the character of this auction,  the lady in the pink shorts.  Also the cast iron kettles without the lids which were relatives of the highly desirable one!

https://picasaweb.google.com/105183160149035139526/2012ShoppingExpeditions

It was a successful day and Alan was pleased with his bits of rusty iron.  We took a few of them to the Toowoomba Swop where we did very successful selling especially to an old friend –  We sell him heaps of rusty stuff  – he has a shop where he sells it to other enthusiasts!

https://picasaweb.google.com/105183160149035139526/MarketsFairsAndSwaps2012

That is the link to the pics I took there.  It was a very mizzly day so not great pics but will tell a story.

But that is not the main story of the Swop meet.  We set up on Thursday – the weather was a bit howdy doody – very strong winds, but we anchored the gazebo firmly with big iron pegs… and went to bed.  At about 2am rudely awakened by the tinkle and crash of breaking glass and china, we debated heading into the elements but turned over – we can clear that up in the morning… but then a HUGE crash on the roof of the van got us out of bed!  The whole 6 metre gazebo was upended on the roof – except for the legs nearest the van which had held – all broken and buckled.  We released the canvas and stashed the broken bits as well as we could – also picked up the bits of china and glass.  The gazebo had brought down a table laden with good stuff – all smashed.  We went back to bed and held each other tight wondering why we do it.  The next day rained intermittently as well and we rushed around with tarpaulins having no gazebo to protect the stuff.  Then Saturday dawned bright and fair and we had to rig up umbrellas to protect the books from the sun!!!  However we counted the money at the end of the three days and realised why we do it!!

We went on to a person who often sells us rusty stuff and other stuff as well – did some decent buying and homewards.

Next weekend was Lismore – always relatively easy, shower and all that at home, drive down there, 3 hours driving, delayed Valentine’s Day celebration at the Workers’ Club – Club bus back to the van and a decent 7 hours sleep before getting up to do the market.  This one wasn’t that successful financially but better than not doing it – then yesterday we drove to Chinchilla – another 3 hours and did battle at a ‘collectables’ auction.  One big dealer, claims she is not a dealer, has an art gallery, pushed almost everything we wanted to a level where we couldn’t bid further because the profit margin would be too slim for us.  She bid over the odds on everything oriental and if she didn’t another old duck did.  Anyway we got a few things – lots actually and spent a bit too and returned feeling pretty good about it.  Now off to Nambour next weekend for a Saturday of selling we hope lots and lots.  Not sure what’s next but we feel optimistic with all our new and interesting stock.  On the way to Chinchilla I took some pics which I won’t even upload…what I was trying to do was capture the strong contrast between the dark rain clouds and the bits of country lit by the early morning sun.  The new camera is too good and focussed on the raindrops on the windscreen! The symbolism will be clear to my readers!

Sunday Feast

I don’t know what I have been doing but I have lost what I have written on this post twice now and can’t write it all again… so will just say this… much of what I learnt  about Matisse (went to the exhibition, Matisse Drawing Life at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane) resonated with my life with Joe and his subsequent history as well.  His ongoing experimentation, his working until his death, his non-commercial approach to his work and his ability to undertake huge and complex commitments and do a great job but always outside the ‘box’.  Connect to this link to see the pictures I took in the other exhibitions that were on at the same time.  https://picasaweb.google.com/lynettefaragher/GOMAJanuary2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

This link will get you to the google page with 100s of images by Matisse and there is even one to the GOMA exhibition itself but hasn’t got that many pictures on it.  http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=592&q=matisse+drawings+prints&gbv=2&oq=matisse+drawings+prints&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l1l17420l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0#hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=henri+matisse+drawings&pbx=1&oq=matisse+drawings&aq=1m&aqi=g1g-m1g-S4g-mS1&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=282112l284403l2l289790l9l9l1l0l0l6l327l1995l2-7.1l8l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=3e2fb5fee7195340&biw=1064&bih=592