Wouldn't an alpaca make a nice pet?

A few weeks ago local alpaca breeders joined together to hold an open day.  

 This boy was very handsome, and didn't he know it too!  His colouring was quite unusual.

 This young cria (baby alpacas are called crias) was a bit shy, but was very cute just the same.

This was at Duri, a small village not far south of here.  You can see how dry the local sports ground is, and it's just the same here.  One could even try alpaca meat, which we did.....alpaca sausage is quite nice, with a slightly sweet taste.  I also bought some alpaca yarn with a pattern for a beanie and scarf, the beanie is already partly knitted and will be handy in winter on my morning walk.

Yes folks, walking has started again on doctor's orders.  It has taken a while to reach (because of my foot and ankle problems, and my general state of unfitness) but I am now up to 30 minutes, the last part of which - the most difficult part - is uphill coming home.  Much as we like living here on the hill, it does have its disadvantages.  I spend most of my walk watching my feet to make sure I don't stumble or trip as I don't want to break any more bones.  It's something I do because I know I have to (wouldn't even be so bad if I thought it would make me lose weight but that's a lost cause given my age, hormones and genetics) and not something I enjoy.  According to what one reads, exercise is supposed to release endorphins in the body which make one feel invigorated and happy afterwards.........I think they're missing in me, because that doesn't happen at all.  When I get home I don't feel elated, just tired and out of breath from walking back up the hill.  And hungry, because this is before breakfast.

End of moan, thank you for listening.

Kevin is now driving the car again!  That's good, because I don't need to dry him anywhere he needs to go......and not so good, because we are back to sharing the car.  Oh, well - at least he can now hang washing out again too.  No doubt about it, having someone to share the domestic chores makes life easier.

Not much action to report in the sewing room, block obligations are now down to one block being finished off (which will be done tomorrow) and two more to be made.  My quilt group - the one I will stay with - has a block each month which members take turns at making, and it's my turn next Monday to have a sample block made (that's done) and instructions written out (also done).  Meanwhile the block from this month's meeting still hasn't been started.....but it will be, never fear.  It's a leaf design and I quite like it.  Whoever "wins" the blocks each month has the option of keeping them, or using them to make a quilt which is donated to the local Ronald Macdonald House.  I have my eye on the leaf blocks and if I win them next Monday, they will be mine.  Not Ronnie Mac's.  I'll make him something else.  The remaining block is for the annual quilt which we make and donate to a local charity to use as a fundraiser, and it's a very easy design.....or would be, if I kept a stock of 2-1/2 inch squares ready cut, which I don't.  Sometimes it's almost as fiddly to cut pieces for just one block and to make it as it is to make a full-sized quilt, don't you think?

Ukulele group is proceeding well, and we are having fun.  The new uke is so beautiful to play.......I love it.  It is worth every cent it cost.  Also, the radio program has been getting good feedback.  Much of what I play comes from our own CD collection, although I do play selections from the station computer too.

Leaves on the we-think-it's-an-apricot tree in the back yard are turning lemon-yellow and falling, much to Bianca's amusement.  When you are an inside cat I suppose you have to take your entertainment where you can find it, and watching the occasional pretty leaf drift to the ground or skitter along the path on a windy day is obviously worth spending time doing.

"After you have visited a friend at her country seat, or after receiving an invitation to visit her, a call is due her upon her return to her town residence.  This is one of the occasions when a call should be made promptly and in person, unless you have a reason for wishing to discontinue the acquaintance; even then it would be more civil to take another opportunity for dropping a friend who wished to show a civility, unless her character has been irretrievably lost in the meantime."

I suppose you could say we called on the alpacas at their country seat?

The sewing room is calling.......

Enjoy your days!

Progress

On my first visit to the local library after we returned from our Easter trip to Canberra I was shocked, horrified and flabbergasted to find out that the library staff don't check one's books out for one any more, it is strictly self-service!  While I'm not frightened of doing so (over 30 years of my working life was spent in libraries) I don't like the idea of doing away with the friendly faces of the staff at the desk.  This morning I was lamenting that fact yet again to the solitary librarian who was hovering - there is usually one hovering - round the book checking computer, and he did agree.

That's progress.  We can accept it's here, but we don't have to like it.  All the local supermarkets have done away with several cashiers and replaced them with self-service checkouts too.  Even if I am buying only a few items I will wait in line and deal with a real person rather than a machine - because if shops and libraries decide that machines can do that job, there will be no real people left to deal with at all.

Last Sunday the local historical society held their annual history walk, taking in some of the area I remember as a child.  It was very interesting!  We found out snippets of very early history, and checked out the exteriors of some lovely old homes.  In the late 1800s-early 1900s there was a tannery, a skin buying business, and a soap factory all in fairly close proximity.......can you just imagine the smell?  On second thoughts, perhaps it's best not to......

Today is cool with a little drizzling rain; looking at the rain radar there is heavy rain to the north of us, and to the south of us, and there is a little clear patch over us.  So the mingy drizzle we are getting now may be all we are going to get, and we need rain quite badly  too.

 It was raining the day we visited Kincardine last October, too.

Overcast days make for photos with clear colours and no shadows, so the fall colours glow.

Kevin is now not wearing the sling for his shoulder and is steadily able to do more things, but hanging out washing is not one of them.  Neither is driving the car, although he can park it in the garage and bring it out on the driveway again.  So I let him do just that.  He can prepare vegetables and grill chops.  I let him do that, too.

After much pondering recently, I decided to resign from the post of newsletter editor for the Thursday quilt group and did so last week.  I have also decided not to renew my membership for that group when it comes due next month.  They are nice ladies, but I have realised it's not the group for me.  I go to quilt group to do just that, quilt, not to listen to a continuous litany about various members' (and their family's) ailments, illnesses and woes. It's quite depressing, and as one who has a tendency to gloominess anyway it's something I can do without.  After all, it's not as though I lack for something to do......there is still another quilt group, two choirs, ukulele group, the Sunday night radio program, and two volunteer 'jobs'.  And when I really feel the need for something to do, there is usually a floor waiting to be swept.......

"Be sympathetic and animated.
Do not go into society unless you make up your mind to be sympathetic, unselfish, animating, as well as animated.  Society does not require mirth, but it does demand cheerfulness and unselfishness, and you must help to make and sustain cheerful conversation.  The manner of conversation is as important as the matter."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Now I shall take myself off to my sewing room and make a start on one of the many block obligations hanging over my head at present.

Enjoy your days!

Maritime Beauty top done!

And I am very pleased with it too, my aim was to capture sea, sand, rocks and sky and I think this comes close.  Now to decide on quilting designs, and to select which blue fabric will be used for the binding.  If you go to Karen's blog you can see other colours used for her design in a class last weekend - they all look so different. 

My batik fabrics, with the exception of the pale gold and blue background behind the spikes which was a lucky local find, were all bought in Bib n' Tucker, Victoria, B.C., on our trip to Canada last year; a pack of brown and gold fabrics, and two Timeless Treasure charm packs called Blueberry Pie and Coco-Berry.  Thanks to my friend Lois (who doesn't have a blog) for taking me shopping, that store has an amazing selection of batik fabrics the like of which I have never seen before!

Many thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes over the fast couple of days, they are greatly appreciated!  I had a very nice day and a lovely dinner that night at a local restaurant.

Last Tuesday, 7th May, was the third anniversary of our moving into this house.....time has flown!  It's been a good move, and we really like it here.  Not long after we moved in, one of the neighbours told us that echidnas lived on the hill behind us, but we didn't see any.  Last year the neighbour on the other side, who had moved in only a week earlier, told us he had seen an echidna; we had been living here for two years then, but still hadn't seen one.  Then last month we finally did!.....and have seen it (there are probably more than one, but they all look alike) a few times since.  When we went to investigate it had its snout poked in the ground, Kevin gave it a gentle prod and it responded with a noise somewhere between a grunt and a grumble.  We took the hint, and left it in peace.

A week ago the ukulele group had a public performance, we played at the opening of an exhibition at the local Regional Gallery.  We even had an audience, people gathered round to listen and sang along with us, so we weren't just musical wallpaper!  They liked us so much we have been invited back.

During the week the return visit to the skin doctor happened, he decided that the spot on my back didn't need to be biopsied (I was spared having to take off my clothes again, thank goodness), but the one on my face did, my gosh - having an injection in one's cheek, just off the side of one's nose, is excruciating.  Brought tears to one's eyes, it did.  Now we are waiting for the result, if it's not a skin cancer then there is nothing to worry about, but if it is it will mean removal.  Which will mean another injection.......what with some recent blood tests as well, I have had enough of being spiked for quite a while.

"Other discolorations.
There are various discolorations of the skin, proceeding frequently from derangement of the system.  The cause should always be discovered before attempting a remedy; otherwise you may aggravate the complaint rather than cure it."

Does having a skin cancer which is slightly discoloured mean that one is deranged?  Probably explains a lot......

Enjoy your days!

Happy birthday to me......

......Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday,
Happy birthday to meeeeeee!