Bye Junee.

G'Day,
Today I have been so bored. So I thought I would get on the puter and do something. Here are the last of my Junee pictures.
The picture above is of my friend Brian. the picture was taken at the museum. He is a great character and a big asset to Junee. He was the woodwork teacher at the local high school for many years and after retiring he does a lot of work around the town helping people out and entertaining them. He is a bush woodworker, he calls himself a chair bodger, meaning he makes great chairs without using any power tools, nails or screws, what so ever. He uses old hand tools, and when he can't find the tools makes his own. He does wood working classes to share his skills and works with shaving horses and pole lathes that he has made himself. I did a day class with him years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, I made (with help) a little hobby horse shaped coffee table to use in my back yard. As well as his wood working he works within the church and sings to the oldies up at the hospital and at different venues around town, including sing- a-longs he arranges with the local museum each month. He plays the ukulele, mouth organ, squeeze box and guitar and keeps rhythm, drumming with his hands on the guitar while he plays and sings.
My first memory of Brian was seeing him riding his pushbike to school in the mornings, down the hill outside my house in Junee. He lives probably 15 km or so out of Junee at Wantiool on a few acres and he would pedal in to town, no hands on the handle bars because he was busy playing his mouth organ. I thought that was funny but a bit irresponsible for the students to see, but funny, that's just Brian. My last memory of Brian was when he turned up at my farewell from the hospital and sang to me "now is the hour" with all the hospital staff, and I had to fight trying not to cry. A week or so before I left Junee there was a festival on in town called the "Rhythm and Rail festival". Brian did his woodwork in the centre of the museum, I did some pottery, there was also hoopla, someone sewing on an old treadle machine, which sewed perfectly, blacksmiths, penny farthing bikes, bush cooking and poetry, spinners, singers, bands etc. It was good fun. Part of what the museum is trying to aim for, in calling itself a living museum. Brian also pulled a sulky around town with a fiddler in the back singing the Junee Junie song. Funny guy, he also built the sulky. I wish I had a photo of that.
Brian also got burnt out in the big fires a few years ago, lost all of his workshop and tools but his house was luckily undamaged. He now does his woodwork from the museum.
This is a picture from the farewell dinner we had with the Canassist people in Junee. They became good friends of ours. Can assist raises money for cancer patients treatment etc, it is something Peter has been involved with since his twin sister died of cancer at the age of 28. I am the fat one in black in the middle, Pete is behind me. Michael is standing at the back with the black shirt. The lady beside me in the blue pants is June, she is retired now but was the pottery teacher at Wagga Tafe for years and owned a pottery shop in Wagga too. I have known her for years.
This one was taken at the Loftus. It is an old pub turned into a restaurant and B&B. In my opinion the nicest food place in town, although not the cheapest. It was taken at my hospital farewell on 15th of March. I even had to give a speech. Ha! Me!
The picture above is taken from the verandah of the museum in Junee. it used to be the Broadway hotel and still has a big archway at the front of the building where carriages used to drive through. It is now the museum and downstairs houses a coffee shop and lolly shop. It is looking back towards the centre of town along Broadway. This area of town has been revived over the last few years with the new co-op supermarket being built just around the corner and the new medical centre built on the corner in front of that. If you could see back the other way, you would see the club and new hospital which has just opened since I left.
Here is Matilda Sprite, looking over Canberra from the mount Ainslee lookout.
Straight in line with the lookout is the war memorial and in front of that the bit where they have the Anzac day marches. The lake in the centre is Lake Burley Griffin, named after the architect bloke who planned Canberra. In the back ground is the Brindabella mountain range. It is set in quite a beautiful setting isn't it.
The Canberra C.B.D. on the northern side looking from Mt Ainslee lookout.
Also taken at the museum. The black smiths forge. I don't remember these guys names but the guy in the blue shirt is from the historical engines club in wagga and the guy in the stripey shirt was the bush cook. He made us a yummy stew in the camp oven at lunch time with lamb chops and told me a lot about his travels. He is also an artist and had done some pottery, mostly sculpting.
This was Brian's woodworking area at the museum. It shows some of his chairs. Note the big one with the back rest at the front. He calls these conversation chairs because 2 people sit facing each other and use the up raised bit as back rests. The chairs look strange but when you sit in them they are really comfortable and relaxing. Some of them have a leg a different length so they can rock back and forth. Brilliant.
I haven't been feeling the best over the last 2 weeks. Constant indigestion and aches and pains to add to the menopause symptoms of hot flushes. I think I should stop taking the anti inflammatory for a while and put up with the aches and pains before I do my stomach any more harm. Trouble is without the anti inflammatory my shoulders will seize up and I will only be able to walk for a little while before my hip and leg does the same so I will put on more weight. Whinge Whinge. I am so fed up with this.
Mum comes back soon so I will be able to whinge about her driving me batty too.
I have to stay home today because I am waiting for a service man to come and check out the hot tub / spa that came with this house. It trips out the circuit board when you press the button to switch on the air jets. Yesterday I emptied the water out and cleaned the filters but I don't know how or what chemicals to put in the water to look after it so this man can tell me what I need to do to look after that as well. Pete and I got in it the other night and it was beautiful but I would like to be assured that the problem with the air jets won't get us zapped. Luxury eh!
This house is really good, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, rumpus room hot tub, and comes at a price. But I might as well enjoy it while I can because when we buy our own place again I probably won't afford to get something as good. There has been a lot of talk in the news about the affordability and availability of housing, both rental and purchasing in our capital cities lately. But I still want to buy because renting is so expensive and lost money in the long term. Our house in Junee hasn't sold yet.
O.K. I better stop there, and go and find something to do, oh my shoulders are aching, whinge whinge.
Bye. Love Linda.