When I was very young, my sister would, whenever the household had a badly scratched or cracked 78 record to dispose of, pop it into the warm oven sitting on top of a small china or glass bowl. The gentle heat melted the record which she then assisted to mould over the bowl until it was the shape she wanted.
These fluted bowl shaped items then cooled quickly, creating what I considered back in the day, very cunning little planter pots, complete with centre hole.
She and I would then fill these with soil and plant small succulents in them. The final touch was to scatter fine gravel over the surface, making a small succulent planter.
I am sure mum received more of these than she really needed, for Mother's Day and other celebrations.
Just for curiosity, and because I have never heard of anyone else creating things such as our planters from old records, I did a quick Google image search...quell surprise! We were (and are) not alone, it seems.
My small record collection started quite young, with a couple of '78's, which were a childs' introduction to orchestra music when I was about five years old. Then my older sister sent my brother and I a record each from new Zealand where she was having a working holiday...mine was "The Child's Garden Of Freburg" my brothers' was also a Stan Freburg recording, but his contained the song (?) "Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder", which we though, at the time, was just the wittiest thing ever written.
Then, I briefly graduated to pop music, quickly transitioning to more classical music, including jazz, strangely beginning to enjoy rock music, in strictly limited quantities, much later in life. I used to enjoy hunting out old 78's and LP's. One of my best finds was a lovely and rare Enrico Caruso recording picked up at a junk shop for next to nothing.
However, the technology changed. Turntables did not include all the sizes anymore and specific styluses became hard to find. After several house moves, including interstate and back, my record collection was gradually whittled down to almost nothing. Nowadays, the romance is all gone...I am completely digitalised.
In researching this day online, one thing I notice Vinyl Record Day has been useful for, amongst the obvious for music shops, is all the information enthusiasts post on their blogs about the best way to store, clean and protect a vinyl collection.
For my inchie I chose an image of one of my favourite song labels, Apple, "Let It Be"...just for nostalgia sake, you understand.
I have purchased some hormone gel and potted up about 10 Daphne odora cuttings from the flowering branches given to me by Sarah and Ann recently. Fingies crossed they take root.
The spring bulbs, hidden until now under a good layer of mulch around the garden beds, are popping up brightly. It is quite a delight each morning to see what is emerging in this new garden.
The Science of Gardening unit is progressing well, we are about half way through now, although I am struggling over a Citrus Nutritional Deficiency assignment...identifying the elements causing the nutrient deficiency in my kaffir lime leaves is being a bit of a trial...it looks at first like one element, then another, then the soil pH affects the outcome so it could be an over supply of something else...I have until Sunday to get this sorted. I think, as usual, I may just be over thinking the whole thing and just need to go with the simpler, more straightforward thought...I am sure that is all they really need included, at this level.
Tim has added long black cable ties along the balcony rail to try and discourage the poopy seagulls from using our deck as the local drop off point. But it's not really working and looks pretty ugly...Chris and I bought an old fashioned string mop and squeezy bucket last week. I think that a daily swabbing down of the deck is sadly our only real option...if nothing else, waving the wet mop in their beaks is a good, if momentary, bird scarer!
Better trot, Tim has requested curry for supper, again and the time is drawing nigh...
Bye
Di