Treasures from the side of the road

The Creative Reinventor, ever with his eyes peeled, scored this

a garden bench topped with fake grass.  With a couple of thoughtfully placed nails, it'll be nice and sturdy.

And this

a very sweet bird house now resident among the corn and zucchinis.

And here is a gratuitous dog and chook shot.

That awkward corner

This is the corner we've been studiously ignoring, putting the chook pellet bin and assorted buckets there and looking away.

Now it sports paving, mint and pennyroyal and a scuplture.

Best not to ask about the giant rubber duck.

The Joan and Joyce update

So, here they are, in a very Marmalade Cottage moment: scratching through coffee chaff from the where the creative reinventor spends much of his time for fruit and veg rescued from landfill.

Joan and Joyce are steadily growing back their feathers, they roost properly and they love a dust bath.

It's been a loooong time coming

One of the not-negotiables of the purchase of the reinventors' home was a room for sewing.  Marmalade Cottage has a small bedroom created out of the verandah that we immediately recognised as small but perfect.

Since we moved in, it's been used for storage and the practical reinventor has variously set up her sewing machine on the dining table and in the guest bedroom.

Then one day, she came home from work to find the creative reinventor had cleaned and painted and rearranged.

"It's just a start," he said, grinning.  "You have to make it your own."  So off we trooped to the green and orange temple to lost weekends, which is conveniently open late.

We got some shelves.

And some moulded skirting board or architrave or something that makes a perfect cotton reel holder.

There's a full-length mirror on the front of the stuffed-to-its-gills fabric cupboard.  The cutting table is set up and there's room for the dressmaking forme and boxes of scraps.  Most importantly, the sewing machine and overlocker are out of their boxes and plugged in.  Bliss!

All creatures

It'd come time for Jodie the neurotic kelpie and Lola-cat to visit the vet for their vaccinations and general check-up.

The practical reinventor had booked the day between Australia Day and the weekend off work and had a list of errands to run, the vet being the first.

Jodie twigged something was afoot when she was subjected to the hose and shampoo.  Lola, when the cat carrier came out.  The practical reinventor immediately realised her profound error of booking them in for a dual appointment when she came to wrangle the pair of them into the ute.

Fortunately both are very healthy, although neither of them coped having their temperatures taken.  Lola complained long and loud, Jodie nipped the vet.  Most embarrassing.

By comparison, their vaccinations were a minor annoyance.

Next time we'll set the ratio at two reinventors : one pet, rather than the reverse.