Shopping WOW

Dear me, this came out a little dark didn't it! This little wombat is decorating my shopping buggy and is the same design we used to decorate our luggage before an overseas trip. Last year when my broken arm was healing I bought a trolley to use - it's still very handy for library visits, because I don't just borrow one or two books. When we first moved here my trolley was still in Sydney so I bought this one, just a cheapy but it is very useful. So now I have two, but only one is decorated with a wombat.....shall have to fix that.We have roses! This evening I picked these beauties and there are still more on the bush. They are large, very dark and velvety, really beautiful, but unfortunately have very little fragrance. The leaves are quite large too. You can see our little back yard through the window with the reserve beyond that. And our oh-so-beautiful wash line.
I left this one on the bush to finish opening up. I love flowers, all flowers, but have to admit to having a particular soft spot for yellow roses.....never thought I would have one of my own.
This is a miniature rose in a small garden by the mail box, the first flower that greets visitors. When the buds first open up they are gold, then they turn orange, then coral pink. The bush has a lot of buds so when it is covered in different colours it will be such a pretty sight.

Because we didn't plant any of these roses we don't know what they are called. There are still some that haven't flowered, a few standard and another miniature, so we are looking forward to seeing what colours we get. I have never grown roses before, but we pruned them in winter as one is supposed to do, and it seems to have worked. The climate here is much drier and less humid than the coast, and I believe roses prefer that. They certainly seem to do well here.

Tammy, Sandy, and Fiona all have stylish new signatures! Don't know about you all, but I thought making my new signature was fun.

My challenge quilt is pinned ready to be quilted, I was going to start today but my back had other ideas. Never mind, there is always another day.

Yesterday we heard the news that Dame Joan Sutherland had died at the weekend. She was a wonderful singer who did so much for young singers, and for opera in general, in Australia. She will be very much missed. However I was saddened to find the notice of her death tucked away on a corner of a major online Aussie news site - because sport was the major story. 'Someone' at the Commonwealth Games had run faster than 'someone else' and that was considered to be the top news story of the day. Whoopee.

Another thing that makes my palm itch (because I want to smack them severely about the head) is the media commentator at the Commonwealth Games - I am not watching much of it, but Kevin is enjoying it - who talks about the opening and closing "ceremoanies". Australians don't have "ceremoanies". We have "ceremonies". While I'n not one of those people who gets hot and bothered about the so-called Americanisation of Aussie English, that particular one annoys me. Language is fluid, it is continually changing and evolving, words are wonderful things and can be very powerful - and part of what makes it interesting are the differences between nations, their cultures and and their language. Let's keep the difference. Homogenisation is for milk, not words.

"Politeness.

Politeness is kindness of manner. This is the outgrowth of kindness of heart, of nobleness, and of courage. But in some persons we find an abundance of courage, nobleness and kindness of heart, without kindness of manner, and we can only think and speak of them as not only impolite, but even rude and gruff."

Enjoy your days!