I won’t say things are looking up, because I don’t know if they are; furthermore, I don’t want to jinx anything. What I do know is that the past five days have been wonderful.
Autumn has finally arrived — with a weird, almost finger-snap swiftness on Samhain! Honestly, it was just like someone flicked the horrific humidity and high 20s off on May 1st, and it’s been hanging around 24ºC with deal-with-able humidity levels, only very short rain showers, and night temperatures dipping down to 15º ever since! It’s absolutely weird, but I’m not complaining at all — it’s absolutely gorgeous. Over the past few days, the wind’s even picked up and is charmingly gusty. It’s as if the weather gods are rewarding us for a hideous, waterlogged summer. I’m so grateful to be able to snuggle up in lovely warm blankets at night, and be able to open all my windows and just sit during the day without dissolving into a puddle of sweat. This sort of weather is always worth waiting for, and always so beautiful in Queensland. ♥
The election was on the 3rd; I did my civic duty on the 2nd. I was 50/50ish on the results…and on the day I just dissolved into a flurry of anxiety and tears; I was so sure that Temu Trump was going to take power and the majority of the country wouldn’t see how vile he actually is — and I’ve lived in his electorate for fifteen years. He’s done NOTHING for Dickson (maybe we should be grateful for that), but he wasn’t going to do nothing to the country, what with all this BSing about gutting Medicare, nuclear power, and more and more…my family would have suffered greatly under Dutton in normal circumstances, but what with what the actual orange fascist is doing to the world’s economy at the moment? Hand on my heart, I honestly think that Australia would not survive it under a Liberal treasury. (Who made it so we completely and utterly avoided the GFC? Yeah, exactly.)
But, as I’m sure everyone knows, we won’t have to after all! The red landslide shocked the living hell out of me. The fact that the election was called for Labor only an hour after the polls closed in WA was also jaw-dropping. I was not expecting that — I don’t think anyone was. (Dutton certainly wasn’t!) I’m so relieved there aren’t really any words for it. And I’m so, so delighted and proud that I got to vote Dutton out of my electorate as well as deny him the chance to ruin the country. Ali France for the win! It’s glorious, just glorious.
The relief still outweighs the admittedly childish schadenfreude, though, which should say everything. Thank goodness for small, surprising mercies…
(Big spiel about how my political opinions and convictions actually align more precisely with the Greens than Labor, truthfully, but my annoyance with the Greens as a party means I don’t align myself on paper with them goes here. Pretend I actually wrote it. 😛 Or, you know, FriendlyJordies can do it for me. Videowise.)
I’ve been busy offline over the past few days. The cottage is still unfinished, but it’s far more than just a storage shed, now — I’ve set up so many things, like full bookshelves, my bed, my sofas, and a desk. Courtesy of my Dad, I even have a portable camping toilet (complete with privacy tent!) and a proper light hanging from the ceiling — having rafters can be very very handy, it turns out! I have some actual curtains hung up with strong magnets, big paper clamps, clothes pegs, and a little MacGuyvering on my end (what can you do with pride flags, paperclips, old bedsheets, and a ball of strong twine? Window coverings! ^_~). It’s actually a lovely little place to spend time in, now — I nap in there, sew and crochet, write, and who knows? I might even set my computer up in there, if my power source can cover it.
I would, ideally, like an actual house — I’d like the cottage to be finished. But the cold hard truth is that I don’t have the money to do that at the moment, nor am I in a financial position to start saving to do so. But I’m not wasting what I actually have. So I’m using it. Is it a weird setup? Yes. Do I care that it is? Not particularly, if I really think about it. It’s safe, dry, holds all my earthly goods, and keeps my cat safe. All else can come later, perhaps.
“The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
I’m working on a lot of sewing projects, at the moment — turning a beloved old pillowcase and some old satin pajamas into a sashiko quilt, sewing the cut off seams from said pajamas onto a square of aida cloth to create a textured A5-size document wallet, and quite possibly using the larger non-quilt patches of satin for some kind of boro project…either a bag, or maybe tart up my poor old oversized and now rather threadbare jeans jacket that I got when I was 17. Boro on denim always looks wicked cool, so I’m leaning towards that one. Plus, said patches are pink and purple, and I’ve got some gorgeous variegated pink/white/purple sashiko threads…yeah. I think I’ll do that ♥