Butterfly chairs, a birthday and thanks

Good news is always welcomed around here.

Colin the upholsterer from Barabas Upholstery contacted me last week to say that our Butterfly chair covers were finally finished. He delivered them on Friday morning and we couldn't be happier with the result.

I ended up choosing a teal green colour although I had originally wanted orange. The orange in the outdoor canvas range that Colin showed me was too red for my liking. The green works better, especially with the Giotto Stoppino tables.

The covers also have white contrasting binding for a crisper look...until they get dirty. Anyway, Colin did a great job and we can finally put both our chairs to good use on the deck.

The frames still need to be repainted but that will have to wait until a free weekend when I can do some sanding and rust proofing.

It is also this little boy's birthday. He's three today. We bought him some new shoes (that makes it sound like he's never had shoes before...he has had shoes, but he needed a new pair).

Barefooted Son #3 on the deck

Lastly I'd just like to thank everyone for their kind comments and lovely emails about Jason's Nana, Belle. Your words meant a lot to us. Thank you.

Belle

We've been melancholy at the Sow's Ear because Jason's Nana died last week. It has been a very sad time for our family - Nana has been a constant for all of Jason's life and now she is gone.

Isabel, or Belle as she was called by her many friends, was born in 1919 in the country town of Mitchell in Queensland.

The year of her birth was when the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending Australia's involvement in World War I, Billy Hughes was elected as Prime Minister and King George V was the reigning monarch.

Belle was the youngest of five children. Her parents James and Elizabeth were of Scottish descent.

When she was in her 20s, Belle moved to the big smoke that was Brisbane. World War II had broken out and she took a job at Archerfield helping to repair the battle damaged war planes. She was our very own Rosie the Riveter - one of many women replacing the male workers who had answered the call to war.

Her dear brother James was killed while serving in New Guinea in 1942. Jason said she could never mention his name without tears of sadness.

Her role in the war effort must have been something she was deeply proud of, as the article below was framed and displayed in her lounge room alongside James' war portrait. Belle is pictured below right.

Grooming warplanes for the aerial offensive north of Australia is one of the big victory jobs in which women are playing an increasingly important role. It is just another example of the Australian-American co-operation, and these pictures taken at a big aircraft repair depot near Brisbane, show how Australian girls are assisting the Allied air forces to maintain their maximum strength in the air.

Japanese flak tore holes in the metal fuselage of this bombers it swept low over enemy positions. Misses Joan Elliott and Belle McCreath are removing the scars of war with the aid of metal panels and rivets. Soon it will be in action again. - The Courier Mail, 1944

In December 1945, Belle married Sid and two years later they had their only son (Jason's dad).

Belle's wedding notice

Sid and Isabel had an interesting life together. At one stage they had bought and managed a Turkish Bath business in Brisbane's Edward Street. 

Typically for Belle's generation, she was a stay-at-home wife who enjoyed gardening - she won the Courier Mail Gardening Competition three years in a row. Belle loved to cook and sew and she was involved with charity work, being a member on the Lady Mayoress' Committee for many years.

She was also the proud and indulging Nana to three grandsons.

After Sid died in the late 80s, Belle maintained an active life and had many friends. She loved to sing and was known to enjoy a drink or two. Although she never learnt to drive, Belle lived independently in her Spring Hill home until she broke her neck in a fall. 

Belle's house in Torrington Street, Spring Hill and the remnants of her adored garden.

Everyone thought that was the end of Belle, but she survived and recovered completely. Sadly, her failing vision and frailty meant she could no longer return to her beloved home of 58 years.


Despite the wonderful care she received at the nursing home during her three years there, she always mentioned, without fail, how much she missed her little home.

Belle's lounge room before the sale of her home.

Belle was a gentle, loving soul. She was the last of her siblings to pass away and she out-lived many of her  friends. There are not too many people of her generation left...

The day of her death was truly a sad, sad day.

Faux Fascia

The weekend saw more work being completed on our deck.

Earlier this year we installed an insulated ceiling on the deck but it had not been finished off. Jason and Mr Rooney, our happy builder, set to finishing what they had started - adding a new fascia board and new cornice pieces to the deck.

The white board is the faux facsia.

Mr Rooney putting the fascia board in place.

The fascia is a false one because the original is still there. Lowering the ceiling profile meant that the rain guttering and facsia needed to be moved; to make it look like it had always been there. It finishes off the work nicely.

Number 1 Son has a penchant for wearing hi-vis vests when helping.

Rain gutter and fascia completed

Jason who is recovering from man-flu had an accident-prone day on Saturday. He hit his head violently in the same spot three times, paint fell into his eyes, he dropped a cordless drill from the deck, he fell down the back steps and the kids were getting on his nerves.

Mr Rooney said Jason was having a Brown Midas day...everything he touched turned to sh*t. Beer o'clock couldn't come soon enough for poor old Jason.

Three sons and a tyre swing

The best part of the weekend for our children was the addition of a dirty old tyre and a piece of rope to hang from the mango tree; endless hours of amusement for the three boys.

Painter's trestles

The exterior house painting has been amped up another notch with Jason borrowing his Dad's painting trestles last weekend.

Back area of the Sow's Ear

It's raining trestles around here!

Expect a lot more exterior house painting posts from now on. The plan is to get the entire back end and sunroom side of the house fully painted.

The painter's trestles are aluminium and weigh a lot less than you'd think by looking at the size of them. They even have adjustable feet to make them stable on uneven ground.

Also, thanks for all your comments about our chandelier disaster. Some of you are truly hilarious and fortunately we have a sense of humour about the nuisance things that happen around here.

I need to make a very special mention to The Moerks for her comment about Warwick Capper (former Australian Rules football player).

Would you let this man hang your chandelier?
image from here

And of course to Mr Rooney who retold, almost verbatim, the conversation we had while Wazza was hanging the chandelier. A classic rendition.

What goes up...

...must come down. Crashing down in our case.

Murano chandelier - before

Yes, this is the other story about our retro Murano chandelier.

It seems Wazza the Electrician, whom I will call Warwick forever more, was wrong when he confidently rebuffed my questioning about the chandelier's stability.

"Nah, this chandelier's going nowhere," he said good-naturedly as he made the final adjustments.

Jason installed a bayonet fitting - after

We enjoyed our lovely light for 36 hours before it all went awry on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Crash. 


Shatter. 


F#!%.

Jason sustained a few gashes on his leg; spilling some claret. Miraculously the dining table was spared because the weekend newspapers were strewn across it.

The almighty crash just scared the sweet bejesus out of me as I was seated at the table...No children were injured - they were zoned out in front of the television instead.

When Mr Rooney, our "find the funny side to things" builder, popped around a few hours later, the tension in the air was instantly lifted.

Earlier, Jason had been ranting. Poor old Warwick's ears would've been burning had he heard Jason's defamatory remarks about his chandelier hanging credentials. I was in an acute state of temporary depression; in the foetal position.

Mr Rooney had himself a good old belly laugh. Mostly because he was there when Warwick made his reassuring remarks to me about the chandelier going nowhere. His amusement was a welcome relief.

We inspected the "hook" that held the chandelier in place and we deduced poor old Warwick's command of the law of physics is wanting. Wazza, Wazza, Wazza!

Luckily, only nine of the Murano crystals were broken. We've put the chandelier away for now.

We are waiting for our courage to return.