Building a Boat Table --- for our Anniversary Party

FIRST OF ALL I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE  ------ I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE I HAVE SHOWN A BLOG  !!!!

I have been so busy, finishing my Christmas Mosaic Bollard, turning a 13 foot boat into a table, to seat 10

(This was my husbands mission )

Finishing our Rock'n'Roll Music Room

THE GARDEN -- Where do I start, not only our Anniversary (that was on the 27 th of October, ) but my son is to be married in 1 week -the 24th of November. and of course the photos will be in the garden

   I think we will start with the BOAT, yes the BOAT !

My hubby came in smiling and said I have bought you a present. !
Jody ( our son,) will be bringing it any minute
Next minute he came sailing past in his ute (he looked like he was sailing ) Filling his ute and hanging out the back, was a 15 foot boat.
Hubby said " I said I thought it would look great in the garden. We will never be able to go to Italy, so I thought we could have a Gondolier  in the boat  I just have to find some oars "

So our boys and Vince started looking on the Internet for some life size Gondoliers.
I must admit some of them where quite handsome, and cost around 300 dollars

Next he he found this great old anchor, and we where donated this shell

What was I to do.?  Dismayed I said to Hubby," I'm going to have to wash his clothes every week !"
He replied " We'll put an umbrella up ?"

About 50 hours went into this boat !

I went to Ceramics Class and said "HELP " I need some ideas.
A friend Phil told me her son had turned a boat into a table, although his was smaller of course
They had filled it with antiques, put glass on top, and it was a real talking point

Well the idea clicked, he thought it was a great idea. I was so relieved. I didn't have to wreck my garden, be startled by a handsome Gondolier in my garden, or wash his clothes every week
Besides that, I just love, love, love the beach and we could fill our boat with beach magic

Happily filling our boat with sand ! 

A shipwrecked boat, plus donations of shells, turtle,driftwood, coral and Sonia gave us the great boat 

My little mermaid with her pearl, the sky reflecting through the glass

The large sheet of glass being placed on the boat .
The 3 clever young men, used 3 suction  pads to maneuver it into position
They used just 1 sheet of glass

"What shall we name our boat ?"
That was a Competition on our Anniversary.
I think will be another blog, as our son Kyle, the artist, has do his magic

My BEACHY area ???

My everlovin' Husband  knows I love, my Beachy Garden Area!

He came home 0n Sunday and said " I've  bought you a surprise, Jody ( our son )  will be driving

in soon, its on the back of his ute "

When he drove in I was in SHOCK

Filling, and hanging out the back of the ute, was  a very, very, long  BOAT

In fact, on measuring it, the tape said ---- 11 feet, 6 inches long.
A bargain at a garage sale, $30 -

My beachy area is well under way, as you would have read in my blogs.

Where do I put it ?, how will I put it?, I definitely need some inspiration
Here are some sections of the garden I have done in the past.

These are the 2 tables ( originally doors )  I finished, mosaics, and, ceramic beach houses I made.

Maybe the boat could go around the pool area ?
I will keep you informed.

THE BEACH, THE SEA, THE SAND

The glorious beach, l can feel the warm sand through my toes, now the water. !

I think I'm sighing loudly !

l am staying with my daughter, and grandchildren in Melbourne for 3 days, as my husband, and sons, are in Canberra at the Summernats, a huge car show .

And of course  Nana would love to go to the beach, -- so here we are at Altona, by the sea-side

Altona is not far from where they live.

I think the photos tell the story !

This coconut was washed up on the shore. How fair has it traveled ?

 Collecting sea shells by the sea shore.

 I imagine this to be a seahorse, but told it's just a fish !

My lens on my camera was  1/2 closed but l thought it looked quite arty.

My grandson a camera whiz, didn't agree.!

SOME BEACHY SEA TRIVIA!

Did you know?

Groups of sea otters tie themselves together with kelp so they do not drift apart while they are sleeping.

lf a starfish is cut into pieces, each piece will become another starfish.

My brother-in -law could go into business, especially with that big blue starfish he has. (Only joking Trev! )

MY GLASS BALL BUOYS

Sometimes at garage sales (car boot sales) you can find some real treasures.

I was happy to find 3 old green glass balls called bouys. They were covered and linked together with old thick net rope. In my mind l could see them bobbing around in the sea for probably 60 yrs.

 My husband and brother have recently built a large construction over our B.B.Q. area to which we roped our precious balls across.

They looked great with the sun shining through them until one morning l came out to see one of my precious green balls shattered on the pavers as the rope had eroded away. 

I didn't know what to do with my remaining 2 balls to keep them safe. Meanwhile I have also found another buoy ball in a beautiful amber colour in an antique shop, so l now have 3 once again.

l decided to place them in a pot for somewhere to put them and they looked at home in this large terracotta colored pot. My large yucca plant lives in this pot with seashells scattered all around the base amongst my balls. 

The only problem l could see was my darling grandchildren playing catch with these glass balls and getting hurt. 

My hubby had a brilliant idea . He took the shells out, placed some marine ply wood at the base of the plant and glued the balls to it. We then covered them with shells again and " Viola!" 

They look great and are now secure and safe.

Our beachy garden is around our pool so it needs to look forever green, bright, and colourful which is difficult in our area because of winter frosts.

l love my hibiscus's, oleander's and roses of course.

 

We also have enormous camellia bushes which are forever green.

l know these plants aren't traditionally classified as tropical but they are forever green with bright flowers and I'm very happy with the way they look around the BBQ and pool area.

MY SEASHELL TABLE.

On this table I used large sandy coloured tiles - also from the op shop and only 20cents each!

l glued them on leaving gaps so that I could fill them with my small seashells. I have collected some beautiful shells from Loch Sport, Rosebud and Altona.

To seal the shells l used this liquid called poly resin. By pouring the resin into the gaps level with the tiles it sets as hard as a rock sealing the seashells, giving it a glass like effect. I was so excited with this method at first but over the year it has gone cloudy. Maybe there is an inside and outside resin. Maybe the resin was not meant to be in direct sunlight for so long or maybe it's just crappy resin.

MY BEACHY TRESSLE TABLES.

I have turned our backyard into a beach area as we have a large pool. I love the ocean, sand and seashells but as we live 2 hrs away from the ocean, we hardly ever see it. I thought instead of whinging, I should just do something about it. I decided to create an illusion to pretend I was there.

Our B.B.Q area is behind our pool so I started there. My daughter had 2 very old solid doors she had turned into trestle tables. As she was moving and couldn't take them with her, Mum and Dad scored! 

As I love brightly coloured beach huts, I made 8 mini sized ones at ceramics.

I glued them on the door (which is now a table) all in a row leaving room at the edges for our plates, knives and forks.

I then went to the op shop (thrift store) and found these beautiful big tiles for only 20 cents each. Breaking them in pieces, I glued them on like a jigsaw puzzle.

Of course this procedure is called a mosaic. 

My design was just a colour coordinated abstract. The colour of nature, tea tree, dry sand, wet sand and the sea. I didn't know how to colour the grout and was told to mix in paint. It has served well and hasn't faded.

SWIMWEAR OLD AND NEW

The following photo was taken in the early 1940's.

My pretty mother is the first young girl on the left.

She is dressed in blue and sitting next to her are her 2 sisters. They were a very close family. My mother had  4 other sisters and  2 brothers (7 in all)

I wore almost the same one-piece swimsuit in the 60's but cut higher on my legs and shaped to my body. 

At the time the 2 piece bathing suit had just come in fashion. 

Then in the 70's the bikini was all the rage. Hence the song  ltsy Bitsy, Teeny, Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini -which was a big hit. 

Now on the beaches you see it all. The one piece swimsuit down to the skimpiest bikini.

Also the topless look, aiming for the perfect suntan.

Do you remember the old style bathing suits?