Showing posts with label tea house still under construction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea house still under construction. Show all posts
Friday, February 12, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Tea anyone ?
Today Chris from Coffee Supreme dropped by for a catch up
and to see how we were getting on with the tea house.
We spent the morning sitting around drinking coffee and gossiping,
laughing and banging on about the ways of the world..
We were doing exactly what we had hoped for
using the space
in the same way we stand around the store counter
and talk .
We sat around loosely on stools like one would in their own kitchen
referring to things
to objects
to people
with a familiarity and warmth.
Holly dropped in to buy cleaning products
She will be one of our special guest baristas,
things were falling into place the way shopping is placed in cupboards
with a type of regularity yet touch of the new.
Kim came in and handed me a parcel
wrapped in a painting made by our friend
Nina when she was in primary school.
It was Carl Jung's- Memories, Dreams and Reflections
she had placed a rose on top of the book.
I took her into the tea house and placed the rose in a thermos.
Flicking through the book Kim was like a regular customer
We laughed and took photos pretending she was a regular customer...
Working away the noon turned to afternoon and
Nada and I made ourselves a licorice tea.
A customer walked into the store and head down to where we were,
" Can I please have a pot of tea? " She asked.
Nada, as hospitable as ever replied
" Sure, why not I'm not the barista but I can make you a pot of tea!"
and so it was our first customer in the tea house was served.
Not wanting to disturb her I shyly asked if I could take her picture
and told her we were not actually officially open yet .
She was thrilled to be our first customer.
I said when you come back it will be in full working order
and she said, " I like it just how it is, it's just like being in my mothers kitchen."
And here she is our first unofficial customer
Robyn.
She drank Chinese Pu-Erh tea with milk and hot water
ate an ANZAC biscuit and read Alain de Botton The Consolations of Philosophy,
and just like that we were open. ( Unofficially )
Monday, January 25, 2010
Talavera y Azulejos
'Lisboa ia a city which has relationships
with the visible world like no other.
It plays a game. Its squares and streets
are paved with patterns
of white and coloured stones, as if,
instead of being roads, they were ceilings.
Its walls, both indoors and out doors,
are covered with the famous azulejos tiles where ever you look.'
From 'Here is where we meet' by John Berger
'And these tiles speak of the fabulous things to be seen in the world:
a monkey playing pipes,
a woman picking grapes,
saints praying, whales in the ocean,
crusaders in their boats,
basilica plants, magpies in flight, lovers embracing,
a tame lion,
a Moreia fish with spots like a leopard.
The tiles of the city draw attention to the visible, to what can be seen.' J.Berger
Today Alex, who I guess you could say, is our handyman,
dropped off three tiles
and a big bucket of wall glue.
" Would you guys use these,
I was going through some old stuff
and thought you might like them..
...they are from the 80's.."
Alex held out the tiles like Tarot cards, or photographs,
I did not ask but I felt the history he gave them.
"..if Tony needs my tile cutter just give us a call,
the glue will prevent anything from falling off the wall,
it holds anything up. You look well today Eddy, clear, bright! "
"Thanks Alex, I am."
I often feel so held in the store.
I added Alex's tiles to the pile of collected tiles.
Tony and I, at the end of our time in Mexico,
collected Talavera from Puebla.
We carried the painted tiles around, eventually
sending them home to Australia only to collect more
when we worked in Portugal,
where the tiles were known as Azulejos.
As I glued the tiles on to the wall in the kitchen area,
which is really just a sink in a small room, and
waited for them to dry before adding grout,
I had trouble believing they were not always where they are now
where I had put them.
Each one carried from the other side of the world,
or collected by someone,
kept from another time,
taken from one place to another,
to rest here
in Elwood, in this little store.
'Lisboetas often talk of a feeling, a mood, which they call saudade,
usually translated as nostalgia, which is incorrect.....Saudade, I decided as i drank a second coffee...
was the feeling of fury at having to hear the words too late pronounced too calmly.' J.Berger
To be continued....
with the visible world like no other.
It plays a game. Its squares and streets
are paved with patterns
of white and coloured stones, as if,
instead of being roads, they were ceilings.
Its walls, both indoors and out doors,
are covered with the famous azulejos tiles where ever you look.'
From 'Here is where we meet' by John Berger
'And these tiles speak of the fabulous things to be seen in the world:
a monkey playing pipes,
a woman picking grapes,
saints praying, whales in the ocean,
crusaders in their boats,
basilica plants, magpies in flight, lovers embracing,
a tame lion,
a Moreia fish with spots like a leopard.
The tiles of the city draw attention to the visible, to what can be seen.' J.Berger
Today Alex, who I guess you could say, is our handyman,
dropped off three tiles
and a big bucket of wall glue.
" Would you guys use these,
I was going through some old stuff
and thought you might like them..
...they are from the 80's.."
Alex held out the tiles like Tarot cards, or photographs,
I did not ask but I felt the history he gave them.
"..if Tony needs my tile cutter just give us a call,
the glue will prevent anything from falling off the wall,
it holds anything up. You look well today Eddy, clear, bright! "
"Thanks Alex, I am."
I often feel so held in the store.
I added Alex's tiles to the pile of collected tiles.
Tony and I, at the end of our time in Mexico,
collected Talavera from Puebla.
We carried the painted tiles around, eventually
sending them home to Australia only to collect more
when we worked in Portugal,
where the tiles were known as Azulejos.
As I glued the tiles on to the wall in the kitchen area,
which is really just a sink in a small room, and
waited for them to dry before adding grout,
I had trouble believing they were not always where they are now
where I had put them.
Each one carried from the other side of the world,
or collected by someone,
kept from another time,
taken from one place to another,
to rest here
in Elwood, in this little store.
'Lisboetas often talk of a feeling, a mood, which they call saudade,
usually translated as nostalgia, which is incorrect.....Saudade, I decided as i drank a second coffee...
was the feeling of fury at having to hear the words too late pronounced too calmly.' J.Berger
To be continued....
Monday, November 23, 2009
FLOOD_FIRE_FAMINE. Does it ever stop?
22.11.09 10:45
Elwood general bucket store...
E>Dan
We Keep this bucket on the window because
when it rains it leeks in this corner.
While renovating earlier this year we fixed the ceiling
of all its leaks and swellings and
we were under the impression that our landlord was doing the same with the roof!
But no, in fact, when he climbs up on the roof with his shaky little ladder
he just moves tiles about to different places..
and now we have not one,
not two,
not three,
but FOUR leeks,
and after our big weekend down pour,
we now have a ceiling full of holes
and another set back to the Tea house!
22.11.09 10:31
Petty much if we dont
get roof fixed we're
fucked, the floor is like a
skate rink
E>T
T was away for the weekend
and being the weekend
I could not really get a hold of anyone.
My main concern was the unsealed part of the
new bench that has jut been put in.
Under srict instructions from Dan the Chippy
we were not to get it wet,
and it was wet!
The drips at first fell heavily into the buckets
and made a manic melody
but then as the rain got heavier the drips became a constant stream
and my job consisted of changing them before they over flowed.
But look how gorgeous the benches look with their new red stain...
I did call my friends dad, who works with timber,
and he was very calm when telling me how to dry the benches out,
which in turn made me feel a whole lot better about not wrecking all the new work.
Actually I also just needed council.
As I mopped away
I questioned why we were even bothering to do what it is we are trying to do.
Why not just throw in the towel and move on...
I was busy in the store today
customers streamed in like the water from the holes in the roof..
Yet in between mopping and changing buckets
I seemed to be hugged by many people over the counter,
I was capable but also carried.
We, the customers and I,
debriefed about how and why we chose to live in this urban environment.
How it's not always easy to break away from the status quo
or to fit in with it either.
I listened as people, I know only really over the counter, shared their 'stuff'
and on more than one occasion I held some ones hand, or was hugged,
or was treated with kindness
and concern.
I could say if I wanted to,
that I wanted to cry,
that I was disappointed,
that I was frustrated,
that it was funny,
that I didn't always know what to do,
or
that I did know what to do,
and thanks,
and its o.k, and yep, this is life...
and then in the middle of the choas
I held my friend Kate's very new new baby 'Willem',
me with a new born, a tiny tiny thing.
He was crying at first, and I had the inertia I have with all babies,
I thought, 'Shit, I dont know what to do here to make it stop'
but then I just held him high, up close to my chest
and I whispered things like,
' its ok, yo keep crying, you're just letting us know where you're at'
and I walked calmly about with him in my arms
and I kept serving people
and in all the choas, tiny wee Willem stopped crying.
Just before I passed him back to Kate,
I looked at this little little human
and realised the part in me that wanted everything to be o.k for him
was the point.
That was my day at work today.
Elwood general bucket store...
E>Dan
We Keep this bucket on the window because
when it rains it leeks in this corner.
While renovating earlier this year we fixed the ceiling
of all its leaks and swellings and
we were under the impression that our landlord was doing the same with the roof!
But no, in fact, when he climbs up on the roof with his shaky little ladder
he just moves tiles about to different places..
and now we have not one,
not two,
not three,
but FOUR leeks,
and after our big weekend down pour,
we now have a ceiling full of holes
and another set back to the Tea house!
22.11.09 10:31
Petty much if we dont
get roof fixed we're
fucked, the floor is like a
skate rink
E>T
T was away for the weekend
and being the weekend
I could not really get a hold of anyone.
My main concern was the unsealed part of the
new bench that has jut been put in.
Under srict instructions from Dan the Chippy
we were not to get it wet,
and it was wet!
The drips at first fell heavily into the buckets
and made a manic melody
but then as the rain got heavier the drips became a constant stream
and my job consisted of changing them before they over flowed.
But look how gorgeous the benches look with their new red stain...
I did call my friends dad, who works with timber,
and he was very calm when telling me how to dry the benches out,
which in turn made me feel a whole lot better about not wrecking all the new work.
Actually I also just needed council.
As I mopped away
I questioned why we were even bothering to do what it is we are trying to do.
Why not just throw in the towel and move on...
I was busy in the store today
customers streamed in like the water from the holes in the roof..
Yet in between mopping and changing buckets
I seemed to be hugged by many people over the counter,
I was capable but also carried.
We, the customers and I,
debriefed about how and why we chose to live in this urban environment.
How it's not always easy to break away from the status quo
or to fit in with it either.
I listened as people, I know only really over the counter, shared their 'stuff'
and on more than one occasion I held some ones hand, or was hugged,
or was treated with kindness
and concern.
I could say if I wanted to,
that I wanted to cry,
that I was disappointed,
that I was frustrated,
that it was funny,
that I didn't always know what to do,
or
that I did know what to do,
and thanks,
and its o.k, and yep, this is life...
and then in the middle of the choas
I held my friend Kate's very new new baby 'Willem',
me with a new born, a tiny tiny thing.
He was crying at first, and I had the inertia I have with all babies,
I thought, 'Shit, I dont know what to do here to make it stop'
but then I just held him high, up close to my chest
and I whispered things like,
' its ok, yo keep crying, you're just letting us know where you're at'
and I walked calmly about with him in my arms
and I kept serving people
and in all the choas, tiny wee Willem stopped crying.
Just before I passed him back to Kate,
I looked at this little little human
and realised the part in me that wanted everything to be o.k for him
was the point.
That was my day at work today.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Slow Building Movement, Speeding Up
07.11.09 2:17
Aww isn't that pretty!
Dan>E
Recycled Floor boards made into bench
09.11.09 9:44
There ya go miss
Dan>E
Recycled Scaffolding holding up bench
09.11.09 9:44
Dan>E
Recycled Shelving made into new shelving.
09.11.09 10:18
Tone want's to have a
little play play
Dan>E
Recycled coffee machine ready for fair trade organic coffee and australian organic tea
Aww isn't that pretty!
Dan>E
Recycled Floor boards made into bench
09.11.09 9:44
There ya go miss
Dan>E
Recycled Scaffolding holding up bench
09.11.09 9:44
Dan>E
Recycled Shelving made into new shelving.
09.11.09 10:18
Tone want's to have a
little play play
Dan>E
Recycled coffee machine ready for fair trade organic coffee and australian organic tea
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Slow Building Movement.
More Text message updates....
06.11.09 12:31
You rekon that's good
wait till ya see yer
apple stacking facilities!
Dan>E
06.11.09 2:16
well there's one.......
Dan>E
07.11.09 10:17
Morning, how bout that?
Dan>E
Our 'slow building movement' has experienced
a bit of speed lately,
we have discovered that in order to turn old things into new things
new perspectives are needed.
Tony's family home was built by his dad, John,
who used to ride his bicycle across sydney
with planks of timber and fibro tied to the sides of it.
He would catch a punt
from one side of the bay to the other,
there was no 'Captain Cook Bridge' back then.
The first structure he built on his bush block was the
outside dunny, or toilet.
He built it first in order to have shelter and a place to sleep
while he built the rest of the house.
That bit of land, where they never chopped down a tree,
became to site of Tones ever growing family home.
With each new child John built a new room.
With such an embedded sense of history
building for Tony, stands for so much more
than simply developing space.
For both of us there is always story involved.
While traveling together Tone and I
stayed in lots of small villages and participated
in many building activities.
We viewed things from the perspective of a tourist,
artist and environmentalist.
Neither of us are builders. But we have two hands.
The places we traveled used hand tools, rarely had electricity
and had little money.
In Laos the whole village came together to get the frame
of a house up. I sat with the women and made Laab.
Tone and our friend Anth followed the orders of the men,
and held things in place here and there.
The three of us would converge and debrief, astounded at the ways
things got done and then would get called back to work.
In Mexico, we built in a place where all the buildings
would be blown down by the yearly typhoon.
We started gardens in places that would be flooded under,
witnessing what we thought were extremely
unsustainable practices.
Yet the village had survived that way
for countless years.
In Elwood, in a building we don't own, we nurture a shop
and ourselves in order to exchange a more sustainable urban life.
Our adversities are many, yet we proceed, slowly, honestly and openly.
Tone and I ate pizza last night from an big stone oven
we remembered many of our meals we shared with people around the world
and with each other.
We are building a tea house,
but as it has always been,
for my whole relationship with Tony,
the 'we' is never just he and I.
It includes everyone.
In each place I have worked constructing things,
from installations in Korea, houses in south eastern asia,
dwellings and gardens in latin america to structures in India
I have learnt something about 'community',
something that exists
world wide.
In order for community to exist it must
include others.
Tone Text me this the other night after a story on slow food was aired on the telly
04.11.09 8:11
I wrote down this quote from Carlo Petrini
'It's not that we are sad environmentalists.
We want happiness, we seek pleasure but at the same time,
we also seek sustainability.'
T>E
When we traveled Tone and I used to say
'We are in search for fulfillment
and happiness, but it must be sustainable.'
Today I see that for all our adversities
our happiness has sustained.
We are building a tea house!
06.11.09 12:31
You rekon that's good
wait till ya see yer
apple stacking facilities!
Dan>E
06.11.09 2:16
well there's one.......
Dan>E
07.11.09 10:17
Morning, how bout that?
Dan>E
Our 'slow building movement' has experienced
a bit of speed lately,
we have discovered that in order to turn old things into new things
new perspectives are needed.
Tony's family home was built by his dad, John,
who used to ride his bicycle across sydney
with planks of timber and fibro tied to the sides of it.
He would catch a punt
from one side of the bay to the other,
there was no 'Captain Cook Bridge' back then.
The first structure he built on his bush block was the
outside dunny, or toilet.
He built it first in order to have shelter and a place to sleep
while he built the rest of the house.
That bit of land, where they never chopped down a tree,
became to site of Tones ever growing family home.
With each new child John built a new room.
With such an embedded sense of history
building for Tony, stands for so much more
than simply developing space.
For both of us there is always story involved.
While traveling together Tone and I
stayed in lots of small villages and participated
in many building activities.
We viewed things from the perspective of a tourist,
artist and environmentalist.
Neither of us are builders. But we have two hands.
The places we traveled used hand tools, rarely had electricity
and had little money.
In Laos the whole village came together to get the frame
of a house up. I sat with the women and made Laab.
Tone and our friend Anth followed the orders of the men,
and held things in place here and there.
The three of us would converge and debrief, astounded at the ways
things got done and then would get called back to work.
In Mexico, we built in a place where all the buildings
would be blown down by the yearly typhoon.
We started gardens in places that would be flooded under,
witnessing what we thought were extremely
unsustainable practices.
Yet the village had survived that way
for countless years.
In Elwood, in a building we don't own, we nurture a shop
and ourselves in order to exchange a more sustainable urban life.
Our adversities are many, yet we proceed, slowly, honestly and openly.
Tone and I ate pizza last night from an big stone oven
we remembered many of our meals we shared with people around the world
and with each other.
We are building a tea house,
but as it has always been,
for my whole relationship with Tony,
the 'we' is never just he and I.
It includes everyone.
In each place I have worked constructing things,
from installations in Korea, houses in south eastern asia,
dwellings and gardens in latin america to structures in India
I have learnt something about 'community',
something that exists
world wide.
In order for community to exist it must
include others.
Tone Text me this the other night after a story on slow food was aired on the telly
04.11.09 8:11
I wrote down this quote from Carlo Petrini
'It's not that we are sad environmentalists.
We want happiness, we seek pleasure but at the same time,
we also seek sustainability.'
T>E
When we traveled Tone and I used to say
'We are in search for fulfillment
and happiness, but it must be sustainable.'
Today I see that for all our adversities
our happiness has sustained.
We are building a tea house!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Progress
Today I received this text message from Dan the chippy
04.11.09 3:00
So thems's the box bits
for underneath your
little bar...................
Dan>E
All recycled timber from other things not in use anymore
to go with our 2nd hand coffee machine
for our soon to be chai house....
05.11.09 12:44
.........And your bartops
Dan>E
05.11.09 12:45
Dan>E
05.11.09 3:20
........That'd be ur little
coffee bangerouter!
Pretty snazzy huh!
Dan>E
There's nothing like pride in work, and these text message updates are just fantastic.
There are certainly not premeditated.
Once I attended a series of social sculpture talks held by
a a building developer. He spoke about how he had created an opportunity
to include forms of 'social sculpture' into the work place and how by doing so it brought out
pride in workmanship.
We outlined roughly what we wanted with Dan and left the creativity up to him,
we had a few talks about the recycling of materials
but chippies are usually masters at reusing materials.
So now its all up to the installation and then building on what we have..How very exciting!
Thanks Dan.
04.11.09 3:00
So thems's the box bits
for underneath your
little bar...................
Dan>E
All recycled timber from other things not in use anymore
to go with our 2nd hand coffee machine
for our soon to be chai house....
05.11.09 12:44
.........And your bartops
Dan>E
05.11.09 12:45
Dan>E
05.11.09 3:20
........That'd be ur little
coffee bangerouter!
Pretty snazzy huh!
Dan>E
There's nothing like pride in work, and these text message updates are just fantastic.
There are certainly not premeditated.
Once I attended a series of social sculpture talks held by
a a building developer. He spoke about how he had created an opportunity
to include forms of 'social sculpture' into the work place and how by doing so it brought out
pride in workmanship.
We outlined roughly what we wanted with Dan and left the creativity up to him,
we had a few talks about the recycling of materials
but chippies are usually masters at reusing materials.
So now its all up to the installation and then building on what we have..How very exciting!
Thanks Dan.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sparky.
Dave the Electrician
was putting in new wiring for our
COFFEE MACHINE today.
Due to the shape of our store the conduit
had to run from one end of the store to the other,
there was much ladder action and may I say,
swearing, from the heights of the ladder.
All I could see were his feet, as I held the ladder for him
in between serving people.
I dodged more than
the occasional screw falling to the ground.
"Where are your biscuits lovey?" a woman too old to navigate the ladder
waits patiently at the counter.
"Just over here, want me to pick one for you? Soy coconut?" I ask
reaching and stretching while holding ladder,
"Oh SOY coconut, I have an allergy to soy lovey, do you have
another flavour? I do like a sweet biscuit.."
"What about just coconut crunch with out the soy carob?"
Screws like crumbs fall to the ground,
Dave mutters, " Shhhhhiii"
he looks down a little old lady,
I say," SOY Allergy!"
"Yes, and I have just been to VEGETARIAN cooking classes
in the BLUE MOUNTAINS,
with the Sanatarium group"
she lowers here voice, " they didn't mention
anything about their religion, just a prayer at the end,
the head, the minister, he also has an allergy to soy,
he was very helpful."
Dave climbs down from ladder
and a bottle of olive oil shelf shakes precariously,
it falls with a thud onto basket of triticale flakes.
Tony enters the store stacking up recycled timber for Dan,
the chippy to reuse as he builds the bench for the Coffee machine.
Its mostly Pine shelves that lined the store originally.
They stand against the wall like a dead forest installation.
"Oh The blue mountains", my head drifts off
" its so beautiful there, what a nice place to do a cooking class class,"
I say as I serve my lovely customer
(all the while thinking about the last time I was in the mountains
and the love affair so full of electricity it burnt my fingers)
"Oh yes they really are, do you know how much metal is in the soil
up there?! My daughter had all of the pine trees
removed from her property,the metal attracts lightening
and so many of the trees were split in two by the all the strikes,
not to mention the needles in the water catchment!!
Now only months after the removal
you should see all the beautiful gum regrowth.."
Two of the pine planks slip down and thud on the hardwood floor.
Dave switches the lights on and off and moves the ladder along.
My little old lady gathers up her groceries and puts them in her basket
she leans hard on a walking stick, her skin is lined and glows with health
she looks at me with a twinkle in her eye and says..
" I think I'll have my coconut crunch with a pot of tea, on the balcony,
it is too lovely a day, I must make use of all this glorious sun,"
she lifts her head to the sky,
" ahh now I have the energy to get me home...Taaa ta lovey.."
was putting in new wiring for our
COFFEE MACHINE today.
Due to the shape of our store the conduit
had to run from one end of the store to the other,
there was much ladder action and may I say,
swearing, from the heights of the ladder.
All I could see were his feet, as I held the ladder for him
in between serving people.
I dodged more than
the occasional screw falling to the ground.
"Where are your biscuits lovey?" a woman too old to navigate the ladder
waits patiently at the counter.
"Just over here, want me to pick one for you? Soy coconut?" I ask
reaching and stretching while holding ladder,
"Oh SOY coconut, I have an allergy to soy lovey, do you have
another flavour? I do like a sweet biscuit.."
"What about just coconut crunch with out the soy carob?"
Screws like crumbs fall to the ground,
Dave mutters, " Shhhhhiii"
he looks down a little old lady,
I say," SOY Allergy!"
"Yes, and I have just been to VEGETARIAN cooking classes
in the BLUE MOUNTAINS,
with the Sanatarium group"
she lowers here voice, " they didn't mention
anything about their religion, just a prayer at the end,
the head, the minister, he also has an allergy to soy,
he was very helpful."
Dave climbs down from ladder
and a bottle of olive oil shelf shakes precariously,
it falls with a thud onto basket of triticale flakes.
Tony enters the store stacking up recycled timber for Dan,
the chippy to reuse as he builds the bench for the Coffee machine.
Its mostly Pine shelves that lined the store originally.
They stand against the wall like a dead forest installation.
"Oh The blue mountains", my head drifts off
" its so beautiful there, what a nice place to do a cooking class class,"
I say as I serve my lovely customer
(all the while thinking about the last time I was in the mountains
and the love affair so full of electricity it burnt my fingers)
"Oh yes they really are, do you know how much metal is in the soil
up there?! My daughter had all of the pine trees
removed from her property,the metal attracts lightening
and so many of the trees were split in two by the all the strikes,
not to mention the needles in the water catchment!!
Now only months after the removal
you should see all the beautiful gum regrowth.."
Two of the pine planks slip down and thud on the hardwood floor.
Dave switches the lights on and off and moves the ladder along.
My little old lady gathers up her groceries and puts them in her basket
she leans hard on a walking stick, her skin is lined and glows with health
she looks at me with a twinkle in her eye and says..
" I think I'll have my coconut crunch with a pot of tea, on the balcony,
it is too lovely a day, I must make use of all this glorious sun,"
she lifts her head to the sky,
" ahh now I have the energy to get me home...Taaa ta lovey.."
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