Belmont's Eunice C. English has long had a penchant for "dangly light fittings".
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"My restless mental state has often coincided with the purchase of a new light fitting," Eunice said.
"Looking up at a nice source of light has given me pleasure and peace. I also like candles, but lamps are safer."
And so, Eunice decided to acquire a chandelier.
"Sometimes when things are not going to plan, you have to do something crazy to brighten life up," Eunice said.
"Once you stop caring what other people think, life becomes a lot more fun. For instance, I can now swing from the chandelier - literally."
Matt and Ainslie Hallcroft used the chandelier as a wedding decoration when they recently tied the knot in Port Stephens.
Matt fitted the chandelier with solar lights and fastened it to Eunice's patio.
"It is such a joy to look at. I wonder if you can see it from space?" she jested.
Her neighbour Jenny called in soon after the chandelier was installed.
"I didn't know the Queen had moved in," she joked.
Eunice replied: "No, just Mrs Bouquet [pronounced Bucket]".
Eunice has long had a love for glass.
"There is something about how the light glows through opaque or coloured glass that is always soothing, even though my vision is now limited to my right eye through macular degeneration and cataracts," she said.
She is particularly attracted to blown-glass ornaments.
"One of my favourites fitted nicely into the palm of my hand. It came from Philips lighting at Jesmond back in the 1980s.
"The factory used to let their glass blowers use the ends of the glass and the furnace to make things at lunchtime. On a visit to see them glassblowing, I bought a lovely hand-blown paperweight made by Julio Santos while working at Philips."
Julio became a renowned glass artisan.
"His work is in collections all over the world. He once showed me how to blow glass, which he then made into a mini candlelabra. It was too hard for me," Eunice said.
Eunice has given away many of her glass collectibles.
"Not a lot got broken, surprisingly. But some have been passed on to special people who loved them over the years," she said.
"Only one I regret gifting - a moulded piece of sea-green Maltese Murano glass to a Maltese lady who lives locally and I haven't seen in years. If she's reading this, I want it back!"
Her favourite object among those she kept was a set of two "Tiffany-type lampshades and a matching base that came from Rovert Lighting in Broadmeadow more than 25 years ago".
"I bought them with a small inheritance while shopping with my long-time best friend, who is a priceless antique I can never part with."
Eunice loves her new chandelier, but she said it was "nowhere near as sparkly as the one I nearly bought years ago for $1000".
"I kept visiting it in the lighting shop till the novelty wore off," she said.
A Good Win
Lotto officials sent us a media release last week about a Lake Haven mum who won $10,000 on an instant scratchie.
The winning $1.10 ticket was bought at Lake Haven Lotto kiosk on the Central Coast. And the kiosk owner's name? David Goodwin, of course.