WOW Quintet

Some years ago a friend painted these wombat coasters and storage box, she even painted a wombat on the lid of the box, that's the larger one at the top. It was an unexpected 'thank you' gift - thank you, Ros!

It's raining and misty today, not specially cold though, just the sort of day where it's hard to get motivated to do something. Anything. The fabric for my newest bag is all quilted ready to be cut out and made so perhaps I shall do get in the mood soon. And I have bought different fabric for borders on my wombat quilt. That dandelion fabric, pretty though it is, was never right for the quilt - it just wasn't dark enough. So I took off the borders and bought a dark striped fabric which will compliment the quilt so much better.

I've just been mucking around on the computer and as you can see have changed my blog picture. Much as I like the other picture (and I really do love it) I thought this would also make a rather nice header pic. This is the MacDonald River at Bendemeer, about half an hour north of here, and was taken last year in mid-winter.

Aren't you proud of me, I've been walking! For quite some time now I have been having problems with back pain, and last week the chiropractor told me that if I walked for 10-15 minutes a day that would make a great difference. Our street turns off the main road, heads uphill and curves back down to the main road again, and to walk around that circuit takes about 25 minutes. I don't think we will be walking today because of the rain, the road becomes slippery especially downhill, and the last thing I want is to fall and break something again. But it's also a good way to get to know our new neighbourhood and some of our new neighbours; a couple of days ago we found ourselves walking along with an older lady who lives a little way from us and we had a nice chat. We check out the gardens to see what plants are growing, and have also met a couple of the local cats and dogs. One house has four identical floral design wall plaques set two each side of the front door, and that has given us the idea to hang the wombat plaque on the front door for the world to see rather than in the beer garden.

We bought two plant pots for the front verandah and have planted grevilleas in them. The ends of the verandah have no way to stop anyone falling off, and we didn't want anyone to fall over the edge as it would do them a nasty mischief (and they might sue us for every penny we own), so the pots are rectangular and block off the ends very well. There are a few plants in the garden that I wouldn't mind getting rid of, but we'll wait for a while yet in case they turn out to be spectacular at certain times of the year. So far they're a bit ordinary. We have a great liking for Australian plants and there aren't many here, but that's easily fixed isn't it? However......we have wrens visiting our backyard from time to time and we don't want to get rid of any plants that they use for shelter, we want to make sure they are happy with any changes. They're such pretty little birds and it's lovely to have them. We have also planted a rosemary bush which is (hopefully!) enjoying today's rain.

I shall leave you with some words of wisdom from the etiquette book.

"Forming street acquaintances.
A lady never forms an acquaintance upon the street, or seeks to attract the attention or admiration of persons of the other sex. To do so would render false her claims to ladyhood, if it did not make her liable to far graver charges."

Enjoy your week!

Jennifer