How cute are these wombats?

Last week I came across this mug and matching tray, and even though it's pink it had to come home with me to join the wombats already living here.

Shame they are not green, but one can't have everything one's little heart desires in this life, can one?  Coffee is being drunk from it as we speak.

It's been a very busy week here at the Chateau des Wombats.  Yesterday I loaded up the car with my gorgeous tenor uke and some music books (365 songs makes for one very heavy book, and I had three) and drove 60kms south to Quirindi for a ukulele meet-up with the local group and another group who had come from a town an hour west, and a great time was had by all of us - so much so that it looks set to become regular, held every couple of months and rotated round the three towns.  If more groups from other towns join in, as we hope, we can extend it.

The previous evening we attended the theatre to see our local Dramatic Society's current production of 'The Lion in Winter', and very well done it was too.  Bianca's vet Robyn played the part of Queen Eleanor, that's something about living in the Small Smoke.......doesn't matter where we go, we come across people we know!

On Thursday we celebrated our wedding anniversary, 39 years since we tied the knot.  One more year and I qualify for that ruby......so long as it's a red red, and not a pink red.  I have my standards when it comes to trinkets, you know.

Today and tomorrow we are cleaning house and putting aside things we wish to take to Canberra, tomorrow clothes will be washed and packed, on Wednesday morning the caravan will be hitched up and off we will go.  Euan's quilt will go with us, the binding is now being hand-sewn down on the back but it will be finished in time to be handed to its new little owner.  Pics will, no doubt, be taken.

"Forbearance with children.
A guest should not notice nor find fault with the bad behavior of the children in the household where visiting, and should put up with any of their faults, and overlook any ill-bred or disagreeable actions on their part."

We won't be staying in the household where the child resides, but let's face it......how ill-bred or disagreeable can a three month old baby be?

While we are away I won't be spending much time on the computer, so until we meet again......

Enjoy your days!

Glorious oceanic lusciousness!

Late last year I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Linda's blog, and yesterday my fabrics arrived from Sew Sisters in Toronto, Canada......aren't they gorgeous?

Colours of the ocean, from a tropical lagoon to a stormy sea!  Thank you, Linda, for letting me join in, and thank you to Sew Sisters for such beautiful fabrics and for sending a second parcel when the first one failed to arrive.

The cunning plan is to put these with more blue batik fabrics from my stash and to add touches of yellow/gold for contrast, what do you reckon?

Only one block on Euan's quilt to be quilted, then the border, and then it can be labelled and bound.  It might just be finished in time.......machine quilting is hard on one's neck and shoulders, so after every block I take a break to stand up, stretch, walk around, have coffee or bring in the washing, all of which slows down the quilting but makes for a happier body.  Right now it's coffee o'clock.

If you were here with me now, enjoying coffee, you could also listen to my new CD purchased recently in the Big Smoke, "Pilgrimage to Montserrat" by Australian early music group The Renaissance Players.  Musical from the middle ages really speaks to me, goodness knows why - it's not as though I can remember hearing it when it was new!  We do have shops here where CDs can be purchased but they are not all my taste, so I content myself with online ordering and the occasional visit to a Larger Smoke when I can treat myself to some new old music.

Lately we are seeing signs that summer is on the way out, today is beautifully mild, but looking ahead at the forecast for later in the week hot weather is to return  - with a vengeance!  Hopefully, though, not too hot and not for too long.  We've even had a little more rain, so gardens are smiling.

This quote from my 1885 book is for my friends in colder climes.

"Putting away furs for the summer.
When you are ready to put away furs and woollens, and want to guard against the depredations of moths, pack them securely in paper flour sacks and tie them up well.  This is better than camphor or tobacco or snuff scattered among them in chests and drawers.  Before putting your muffs away for the summer, twirl them by the cords at the ends, so that every hair will straighten.  Put them in their boxes and paste a strip of paper where the lid fits on."

I hope that advice is helpful......are muffs still used anywhere?

Now I am going back to the sewing room to quilt, and to fondle my new fabric again.

Enjoy your days!

Gee, it's good to be back home again!

So goes the song, so I feel.  Kevin was born and bred in the Big Smoke, I lived there for forty years, but we feel so much more at home here since moving to the Small Smoke nearly five years ago.  We enjoyed our visit but aren't in a hurry to return.

However we will be returning later this year, because we have booked (and paid for, so we can't change our minds) plane tickets to Canada in September.....yay!  We will get to see our younger son again and his lovely partner, and spend time with our Canadian friends once more.

We're not getting too excited about that trip yet, though, because we have another trip coming up much closer to home, our annual trip to Canberra to catch up with our older son and his gorgeous wife, and of course our grandkid Euan The Wonder Kid, and to spend time at a folk festival over the Easter weekend - something we have been doing for 20 years now.  Once we return from Canberra we will be able to get excited about our Canadian trip.

This is where we spent some of our time in the Big Smoke.

 Not in the pool, though.......just admiring it.  I don't do water.

These pics were taken on a previous visit but the view hasn't changed, the only difference is that this year it didn't rain.  According to my 1885 etiquette book, in the language of flowers hibiscus stands for 'delicate beauty' - now that's a surprise, I would have thought 'bold and flashy' was more like it.

The day before we drove to the Big Smoke we had a phone call, one we have been expecting for a while, to say that a friend had passed away.  Kevin and Bob were friends of very long standing having played tennis together as teenagers and Bob was best man when we married, so it was a sad goodbye to him at his funeral on Friday.

Progress on Euan's quilt is being resumed......better get a move on, hadn't I!  It has still been fairly warm though, and the last thing one feels like doing in the heat is sitting at the machine, quilting.  Summer can finish now, I am over it, seems like ages since we had a day under 30 deg C.  However we have been thankful for a little rain, not enough to get gardeners excited, just enough to help our dry thirsty gardens slightly, with the possibility of more later today.

"Ladies invited to funeral ceremonies should always wear a black dress, even if they are not in mourning; and it is bad taste to appear with a gay bonnet or shawl, as if for a festive occasion."

Bob's funeral was held in a Catholic church and while some women wore dark colours or black with a touch of colour - myself included, I wore a black skirt with a dark emerald top and black accessories - many wore black from head to toe as is customary at a funeral, but the surprise was the styles being worn.  A black lace dress with almost bare shoulders and very little back at a funeral mass?  Another dress with black lace overlaid on white satin?  We both thought such dresses, pretty as they were, more suitable for a night out than a formal church funeral.......but then, what do we know?

Enjoy your days!