Wherever you are, and whatever you celebrate........

........best wishes for a time of love and peace.

And chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

Back home again......in an empty house

Finally - we moved back home a couple of days ago, seven weeks after moving out.  The house isn't fixed; we have no carpet, very little furniture, and the kitchen has to have major repair work done.....but we are home, and Bianca The White Cat is also home after her extended holiday.

Just as well we weren't expecting guests for Christmas, isn't it?  There are no spare beds, they had to be thrown out because of water/mould, but our bed is safe

Ah well.  No sense crying over that which is gone.  There is still some packing and sorting to be done here, but we are gradually making the place livable.

Big celebration this week, Young Euan turned three a couple of days ago!  He loves his dinosaur shirt and Lego animals from his distant grandparents.

However, our Canaussian son over there on the far side of the known universe isn't doing too well.  For some time now he has been having treatment for a vascular tumour in his hand, and tomorrow goes into hospital for an operation to remove it (the tumour, not the hand).  He's been in pain for quite a while and doctors have tried various treatments, but have now opted for surgery.  The treatments he has been having are experimental as it seems there are only about fifty cases known world-wide.  We always knew our boys were special, but making medical history is not how we wanted them to be unique.....he has a wonderful partner who will keep us updated on his progress, and supportive friends who will be waiting in hospital with her.

Most of my stash didn't suffer in the flood, but my plastic basket of batik fabrics was sitting on the floor.  Note that I said "basket", not "box", which means there were lots of holes for water to enter.  There are a few interesting colour runs, but they will be taken care of in due course - they certainly looked pretty hanging out to dry.

 It was a warm sunny day, so much so that my arms did get a little sunburnt from spending so much time hanging fabrics out, bringing them in, hanging out the next batch......

Those fabrics dried very quickly!

One morning when we were staying in our apartment home-away-from-home we noticed that this gorgeous moth had made itself at home on the wall in the entrance hall.  According to an online friend it's an Emperor Gum Moth - they are quite spectacular, and very big.  This one's wingspan would have been the length of my hand from wrist to fingertip.

There are pictures online of these moths compared to a human hand for size.  I don't think I would hold one just to show you all but take my word for it - they are huge.  We had one in our garden a few years ago too.

Over the past few weeks the uke group has had a few gigs, which has been a good distraction from getting upset over a flood-damaged house.  We're getting quite good at playing Christmas stuff, you know.  We've even been invited to play at a gospel breakfast at a small church a little way out of town next month, isn't that something?  Fame at last......who would have thought that at my advanced age I would be arranging gigs for a musical group......

Are you all organised for Christmas?  We're not, but then we wouldn't be organised for anything else right now either.  We have two small tabletop trees each surrounded by tiny lights, so at least the house does feel a bit festive.

"The hand.
The beautiful hand is long and slender, with tapering fingers and pink, filbert shaped nails.  The hand to be in proper proportion to the rest of the body should be as long as from the point of the chin to the edge of the hair on the forehead."

Somehow I don't think our boy is worrying about his pretty pink nails right now.

Enjoy your days!

Not back to normal yet

Like that shampoo ad said on TV a few years ago, it won't happen overnight......but it will happen.

Well, it seems this flood really caused damage.  The bottoms of several doors soaked up moisture from sitting on wet carpet, so they will also be replaced.  Some skirting (base) boards will need to go, but only a couple - most are made of proper wood, so they have less damage.  We can't help wonder why real wood was used for some, and cheap crappy artificial wood for others?  We have noticed that some odd short cuts were taken when this house was built 25 years ago.  At least one inside wall has to be partially removed to check for moisture between inner and outer walls.

Two of my books were lost.  One was a Mon Tricot knitting and crochet stitch and technique dictionary which I bought new in 1974, and to which I refer often; even though all that stuff can be found online sometimes there is no substitute for a proper book with real pages, is there?  Guess what - I found a copy on Ebay!  A small thing to be sure but something to cheer me a little, it should arrive soon.  The other was a book of basic women's knitting patterns which is still available, so that will also be done soon.  Both those books had their pages stuck together too firmly to be separated, because of the paper used.

However we aren't buying 'stuff' at present, because there is nowhere to put it!  Much of the house has been emptied, and furniture which hasn't been hauled away is stored in the garage.  We are trying to keep floors as clear as possible to make it easier for whoever puts down the new carpet.  One thing is for sure, though......we won't be going back to the store where the last replacement carpet was furnished, the owner bloke wasn't wonderful to deal with.  When we said to the assessor/builder from the insurance company that we would prefer to use another supplier he asked was it because of the boss man......we said yes......funny, he said, several other people have told me the same thing. 

Having said that......this morning a fundraising Christmas Fair was held and I couldn't resist some pretty blue and green earrings, they won't take up much room will they......and a necklace made in Madagascar from cow horn dyed in bright colours, which I am wearing as we speak.  I will call them my Christmas present.

My guitars and tenor ukulele were sitting on the wet floor but because they were in their cases I think they will be all right, and my cheapie soprano uke is probably some sort of plastic which would be impervious to water anyway.  On another cheery note, there have been a couple of ukulele gigs lately, playing music is more fun than moping about our spoiled house! 

Our town has two big used book sales a year, one in May organised by a Rotary Club and one in November organised by a Lions Club.  Since moving here I have found some wonderful treasures at these sales, but didn't go to the current sale in case I was carried away and bought books.......and right now we have nowhere to put them.

Sigh.  I do enjoy those book sales.......

"Never hold your companion in conversation by the buttonhole.  If you are obliged to detain him forcibly in order to say what you wish, you are pressing upon him what is disagreeable or unwelcome, and you commit a gross breach of etiquette in so doing."

Oh my - I would never do that to anyone, and I hope no one would ever do it to me.

Enjoy your days!

Been here before, you know.......

On Monday last week we arrived home from a great weekend at the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival to a flooded house again, courtesy of a broken pipe under the bathroom sink..  This time is much worse than last time, the entire houseful of carpet was saturated, and it and nearly everything which stood on it has to be thrown out.

Our new three months old furniture......the new carpet......plus some other stuff which I am trying not to think about.  The water tripped a power board which caused a blackout and we had food in the freezer, so that's gone.  I had alpaca knitting yarn in the freezer because I spied a little thing with wings being interested in it......that's gone too.

Right now we are feeling slightly shell shocked, but this too will pass.  Normal blogging will resume as soon as possible.

Secret Squirrel Reveal

Ta-da!

 It is now in the hands of its new owner.

 Even has a fancy-nancy pieced back.  It was quilted by a local long-armer; I could have done it myself but it would have taken me quite a long time, and I wanted to have it finished.

 The fabrics are from my stash of "Holy Fabrics"......the ones which are too precious to cut up and use for just anything, it has to be a Very Special Project.

 These squares were from a shop which has changed hands over the years but is still in business.  I was unable to get any of the florals for the border (it has been quite a while, after all) so decided on a lavender spot, which was used on the back too.

The last of the florals, a green print, is the centre square on the back.  It has a couple of squares of the background green to keep it company so it doesn't get lonely.

Not sure what to make next, there are so many choices......decisions, decisions......

We have had rain this week!  Great heaps of rain!!  The hill behind our house is bright green and the grass may be even growing; it could be over 1/4in long now.  The kangaroos are quite pleased.  Within a week we had 120% of our average October rainfall, and a couple of towns nearby had even more.  The coming summer may still be hot and dry, but our gardens are happy for now.

We enjoyed our trip to Nundle a couple of weeks ago so much that we did it again yesterday.  For such a small village - only about 300 residents - it's a lively little place, and even has a quilt shop on a farm just outside town.  The Airing of the Quilts was on yesterday, a long line of quilts hanging on the fence from the road to the house and the quilt shop.  A few pics were taken and may make their way onto the blog; I can't credit any of them though, as none were labelled.  Once again we had an excellent lunch at the pub, and found a new - to us - way to come home.

Some people must wish their lives away, mustn't they?  Over the past week ads for The Big Occasion in Late December are starting to appear on TV with the phrase "ten weeks to go".  It will be here before we know it......let's not make it happen any sooner.  We haven't even decided on our plans for this year, we may be here at home and then again, we may not.  It might, as usual, hinge on what the grandkid and his family are doing and we think from hints dropped earlier this year that they may be visiting DIL's sister and her feller way down south.  We have, of course, extended an open invitation to come here at any time but the answer is always "it's such a long way" (yes, we know, we have driven it many times) or "don't think we can get enough time off work" (but there will be no trouble getting time off to go way down south, it seems) or some other reason.  Oh well......the time will come when one or both of us is unable to make that long trip by car, flying is expensive, so perhaps we need to resign ourselves to not getting together much.

When our children were small their grandparents lived away from the Small Smoke, Kevin's because they moved away on retirement and my mother because she lived in a country town all her life; I was the one who moved to the Big Smoke.  We saw more of Kevin's parents who were only a couple of hours away than of my mother because it was a much longer drive to visit her, although nowhere near as long as it is for us to visit the grandkid's family.  Because of childhood abuse I wasn't close to my mother (my father disappeared from our lives in 1972) so I never wanted to spend much time with her as an adult, just enough to feel that duty had been satisfied.

"Yielding to one another.
One of the greatest disciplines of human life is that which teaches us to yield our wills to those who have a claim upon us to do so, even in trifling, every-day affairs; the wife to the husband, children to parents, to teachers and to one another.  In cases where principle is concerned, it is, of course, necessary to be firm, which requires an exercise of moral courage."

Something I have never been good at, I think.  When one is browbeaten as a child it is difficult to stand up for one's self as an adult, you know.

Enjoy your days!

Is done!

Finally - the lime green bag is finished, done, completed, and has already been used.

 It's cheerfully bright, and very summery.

I have trouble coping with summer's heat, but this new bag might cheer up those stinking hot days a little.

Have I ever mentioned that I am quite fond of green?

The Secret Squirrel project is progressing nicely.  Pics have not yet been taken because it is a secret.

Not long ago I buggered up the sound system in my sewing room.  I can't work in silence, I need music; my choice of either a CD or the radio, it depends on the music being played and my mood.  I had one of those radio-CD-cassette player systems (remember cassette tapes?) and those tapes hadn't been played for ages so I popped one in to try it out.....and it stuck.  Eventually we freed it, but every time the unit was turned on there was a continual clicking noise no matter whether the radio was on or a CD was playing.  Considering it was bought in the year 2000 it has done sterling service so a couple of days ago I bought a new mini system, and now I have music again and I am a happy woman once more.

There is a strange sound on the roof......could it be light rain?  It's been so long since we have had a decent shower we have forgotten what rain sounds like......(jumps up and runs to window to check)......yes indeedy, the path outside is damp.  Wonders will never cease!  In recent days we have had a taste of the summer to come, and I for one am not looking forward to it.  We really like living here in the Small Smoke although the hottest weeks of summer can be trying - but the alternative, the humidity of living on the coast, would just about do me in.  I'll take the oven over the sauna any day.

Now that local folk are gadding out and about in their summer clothes again we are seeing some wondrous sights.  Just because one can wear something, doesn't mean that one should.  I do check before going out in public that I am passable, but of course my standard of passable may not be someone else's.

We have a long weekend coming up, so I think we need a Nice Sunday Drive although it will probably be on Saturday.  Perhaps a trip to Nundle, a small town not far away from here, near where my maternal grandfather was born way back in 1885.  He used to tell few tales about growing up in the village when it was still a gold mining town, I wish I had listened more attentively.....but you don't when you are young, do you?  Pop's birth was registered in the local courthouse when it was possibly the most important building in town; the building is still there, but now it's a museum.  His mother's name is wrongly given as Emma on the official record, although her name was Emily......I wonder if perhaps Pop's father John had been wetting the head of his seventh child and fourth son and so slipped up with his wife's name, or if perhaps he called her Em or Emma so that's what he told the clerk who was recording the details?

We will never know.

"In calling upon a man during business hours, transact your business rapidly and make your call as short as is consistent with the matters on hand.  As a rule, men have but little time to visit during business hours."

Yes, and make sure you get your wife's name correct on official forms.  Your descendants will not thank you for making their family history record search more difficult than it should have been.

Enjoy your days!

Spring is now springing

The weather is warming, wisteria is now flowering......it must be spring!  New seasons don't arbitrarily arrive on a particular day, they ease in gradually - and now spring flowers are blooming, trees are wearing their new green leaves, and the air smells like spring.  Perhaps it's only the neighbour's jasmine creeping over the fence......the smell of that stuff drowns out all other scents......

Not so good news for the next few days however with high temperatures, a hot wind and fire danger alerts, a bit early in the season but it does happen.  Hopefully it's just an aberration and things will settle down for a while afterwards.  Some rain would be welcome.

Last Sunday's treadling demonstration went well!  There was a lot of interest from folk of all ages, many people reminiscing - "my grandmother/aunt/neighbour had one of those" and admiration - "my goodness, you are clever" and incredulity - "it's so old, and it still works!"  When children were asked to guess how old the machine was their answers ranged from "about 20 years old" to "about 200 years old".

Over the previous few days the stash was raided and fabrics were cut out to make four bags.  I knew there would be no iron available so hems and facings were pressed at home beforehand, and two of the four were finished.  They still haven't been near an iron.

The ticking was given to me by a colleague several years ago.  She and her husband had a business restoring and selling old furniture; the restoration they did themselves, but the upholstery was always done professionally using beautiful (and probably quite expensive!) fabrics.  One day she gave me a bundle of leftovers including two long already-sewn pillow covers which, when cut across, were just the right size for bags.  Two strips were cut from each piece for handles, and fabric for linings came from my stash of elderly fabrics.

Two down, two to go.

These will also be made on the treadle, because it was such fun!

The lime green purse is creeping slowly towards the finish line, and now that the treadle weekend is done other projects can be worked on.  A Secret Squirrel project is also waiting its turn.

Haven't told you all about an outing we had a month ago.  Each August a big agricultural showcase, Agquip, is held in a town an hour away and, while many locals are blasé about it, we find it very interesting and have been a few times since moving here.  A highlight is lunch; this year we had Hereford steak sangers and very nice they were too; nothing flash and fancy, just a thin piece of tender steak with fried onions and a dash of barbecue sauce inside two pieces of bread.  There was a copy of the Hereford breeders' magazine on the table for lunchtime reading, while nearby in a small enclosure was a live example.  So you can admire the cattle and read about the cattle while you eat the cattle......we could have had Angus, or Murray Grey, or another breed......

We are having this month off choir because our fearless leader, Bill, is travelling overseas.  We miss our Thursday night singing.

"Time to send invitations.
Invitations for parties and entertainments of a formal nature can be sent out for a week or two weeks before the entertainment is to take place.  A notice of not less than one week is expected for such invitations.  They should be printed or engraved on small note paper or large cards, with the envelopes to match, with no colors in the monogram, if one is used."

Do people still send out such printed and engraved invitations, or are they now delivered online or by text?

Enjoy your days!

A tale of two treadles

Which isn't quite like a tale of two cities.

We have a Singer treadle machine up and running!

This was a freebie.  Way back in about 2001 my Big Smoke brother rang me to let me know that his neighbour had "a treadle like your old one that was Mum's" and, if no one collected it from his front verandah that very afternoon, he was going to take it to the tip.  Never one to pass up a free machine we immediately drove over to said neighbour's and found this beauty in its cabinet, above.  It had been taken apart but was not broken, all the screws which had held it together were in a bag, and it even had the original manual, the drawer key - which is as scarce as hen's teeth, let me tell you - and all the fancy feet.  The serial number indicates that it was made in Kilbowie, Scotland, in about 1925.

Recently I bought a couple of new leather belts, and some new bobbins, and felt pads for the spool pins; Kevin has spent some time disassembling, cleaning and re-assembling the tension mechanism and bobbin winder, and now it sews beautifully.

It joined my maternal grandmother Edith's 1924 machine, also made at the Kilbowie factory, which has been in my possession for 20 years.

They are both Singer 66 treadles with "Egyptian Lotus" decals, in identical cabinets.  Sadly the cabinet on Nana's machine isn't in as good condition as the freebie; my mother had kept it on her front verandah for a few years, the verandah was closed in but the machine sat against an outside wall, so because of our dry inland climate the left side of the cabinet is sadly weathered.

Fortunately the cabinet on the freebie is in very good condition, so on Sunday it is going with me to the local historical museum and together we will show how some of our ancestors used to sew.

Kevin's engineering mind seems to have enjoyed getting them up and running again, and he found having two identical machines very useful as he could learn from one while he worked on the other.  He now has a great respect for these old machines - they were made quite simply, but worked (and indeed still work) so well.

Back in the depression of the late 1920s-early 1930s people had their furniture and effects repossessed for non-payment of rent, but I have read that the bailiffs were not allowed to touch a sewing machine - it was regarded as a "tool of trade", i.e. a woman with a machine could use it to earn a living for herself and her family.

I remember my grandmother's machine sat in a corner of their dining room, and while I was allowed to play with her button jar and fabric scraps I wasn't allowed to use the machine.  I don't remember specifically being banned from it but I was never shown how to use it, so probably assumed - rightly or wrongly -  that it wasn't for me to use.

Oh well - it's mine now, and I can use it whenever I wish.

A touch of fame and glory this week too; my Winding Ways quilt, "The long and winding road", is hanging in public!  Volunteers at the local regional gallery were recently asked if we would like our humble efforts to be recognised by being displayed in the council building, so my black and white quilt is on display.  Yesterday morning we popped in to see it, and while there we were talking to a council employee who said she loved it (just as well, the poor woman has to look at it for much of the day) and Peter, one of the choir members who was gobsmacked by it and by the fact that I could do more than sing.  Because it is on a wall in a big space I was able to stand well back to look at it, something which can't be done here at home, and said "oh - wow!"

"Listening.
The habit of listening with interest and attention is one which should be specially cultivated.  Even if the talker is prosy and prolix, the well-bred person will appear interested, and at appropriate intervals make such remarks as shall show that he has heard and understood all that has been said.  Some superficial people are apt to style this hypocrisy; but, if it is, it is certainly a commendable hypocrisy, directly founded on that strict rule of good manners which commands us to show the same courtesy to others that we hope to receive ourselves."

Indeed.......and to save you looking it up, "prolix" means given to speaking or writing at great and tedious length and dates from the middle ages.

Enjoy your days!

Visitors

We have had visitors popping round lately, but not human ones......

 Ever since we moved here we have been entertained by kangaroos and wallabies on the hill behind us.  Sometimes they come fairly close to our fence, as they did earlier this week.

It was late afternoon, as you can see by the shadows.  Rain is badly needed, so the roos are coming close to fences in search of grass.

Occasionally we have seen two males roos fighting, and I wouldn't like to be nearby when they do as it looks quite vicious.  They balance on their tails while raking at their opposite number's chest with those powerful back legs and claws, while their heads are held back out of the way.

It's been an interesting time lately here at Chateau des Wombats.  Recently our main computer displayed a message that our virus protection wasn't working and suggested what to do about it......Kevin duly followed the suggested steps......computer told us that any added apps would be removed......right-oh, he said and pressed the 'run' button.......

......and all my bookmarks have gone, EQ7 disappeared into the ether, as did many other programs.  All are being slowly re-instated, the wonderful technical support folk at EQ helped with re-installation, and I am slowly becoming a happy woman once more.

Sigh.

The green purse only needs handles and an internal base to be finished, then a new guilt-free project can be started.

According to some people - not me, I hasten to add - today is the first day of spring.  Many years ago a bright spark somewhere decided that the first day of the months of September, December, March and June would arbitrarily bring a change of season, but you and I know that a new season doesn't suddenly happen overnight; it's a gradual process over several weeks.  It would make more sense had the first day of the following month been chosen instead, i.e. October, January, April and July, because that's when there is a noticeable difference in weather.  So every three months I yell at the TV when the announcer says "Today is the first day of a new season"......"No, it isn't" I say loudly.......

So spring is coming and that means the weather will get warmer, and before we know it summer will be upon us with its heat and I don't do summer very well, so will be hanging out for autumn to arrive......it's no wonder my life is flashing by before my eyes, is it?

My Winding Ways quilt is hanging in an exhibition at an art space in our local council building, the exhibition is of work by volunteers at a local gallery so there will be textiles, and paintings, and all manner of interesting works.  I shall endeavour to view it, for the thrill of hanging in public, before it closes; it only opened today, so there will be opportunities next week.  Fame at last.......

"Public mention of private matters.
Do not parade merely private matters before a public or mixed assembly or to acquaintances.  If strangers really wish to become informed about you or your affairs, they will find the means to gratify their curiosity without your advising them gratuitously.  Besides, personal and family affairs, no matter how interesting they may be to the parties immediately concerned, are generally of little moment to outsiders.  Still less will the well-bred person inquire into or narrate the private affairs of any other family or individual."

When I was growing up family affairs were never spoken of outside one's family, they were regarded as being no one else's business, and while this seems to have changed (reality TV, anyone?) I do my best to ignore other folks blathering on about their own and their family's private life.  I mind my own business, and expect others to do the same.

Enjoy your days!

A week in which not much has happened.....

Today is a cold grey cloudy day, a good day to stay inside and sew, or read, or toodle around on the computer, or just do very little.  As the saying goes, time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.

There is progress on the green purse.

That doesn't look like progress, but believe me it is.  Next step is to sew the inner pockets to the outer bag, which may be done today......and if not, why then it will be done on another day.  It will be a cheerful bright purse, just the Very Thing for our forthcoming spring.

The books are still not in order, but now there is A Plan in my head for doing that.  Meanwhile, it has been fun searching through shelves for a particular volume and being surprised by what is found.

The treadle practice also hasn't started because I have been unable to find the spare leather belt bought several years ago, and obviously put in the proverbial Safe Place when we moved here.  In the back of my brain I can still see the design on the plastic bag with the belt inside, but do you think I can remember where it was last seen?  At the time we bought two belts; Kevin installed one but the other machine is still beltless.  We have decided it will just be easier to buy another, because both machines need to be tried out to see which one is easiest to use.

Someone said to me at a meeting last week "I hear you are leading the U3A ukulele class"......"Oh, am I?  That's news to me" said I......I suspect (in fact I know) I am the most advanced in the group so it looks like it has fallen to me to lead, and I am in two minds about that.  We'll see what happens by the end of the year.

Lately our Federal Parliament has been in somewhat of a tizzy.  One section of our Constitution, put together in the closing years of the 19th century, requires that all members of Parliament must be Australia citizens - fair enough, I have no problem with that - and also that they must not be dual citizens of other countries.  Therein lies the fun......recently it has transpired that several MPs are, indeed, dual citizens although they all claim not to have previously known that fact.  Our local MP found out he is a dual citizen of New Zealand because his father was born there, and for 30 years from 1949 a child born anywhere in the world to a N.Z. parent automatically became a citizen of N.Z.  All these cases are going before our High Court, the highest in the land, for the learned judges to make their decision.  Personally, I hope they say that our local bloke (for whom I didn't and would never vote) is not eligible to be in Parliament and has to leave and, even better, has to pay back all the whopping salary he has been given since taking up his seat.  I would laugh loud and long.

We take our pleasures where we can find them, don't we?

I wish to goodness that TV and radio announcers would learn how to pronounce big words.  Don't they learn in school how words are put together?  A young woman reading the radio news has just said "prodiggus", but we're sure she meant "prodigious".  The woman who often reads our local TV news bulletin adds extra syllables to many words - "three" becomes "the-ree", "threat" becomes "the-reat".  She also mispronounces many local place names.  It has become quite irritating, and I am turning into one of those Olde Phartes who yells at the TV because of it.

"Writing as an aid to correct talking.
To converse correctly - to use correct language in conversation - is also a matter of importance, and while this can be acquired by a strict attention to grammatical rules, it can be greatly facilitated by the habit of writing down one's thoughts.  In writing, strict regard is, or should be, paid to the correct use of language, and when a person, from constant writing, acquires the habit of using correct language, this habit will follow him in talking.  A person who is accustomed to much writing, will always be found to use language correctly in speaking."

Newsreaders, please take note.  Not only do you need to pronounce words correctly and in context, you also need to be able to string words together on screen or paper to make sense.

Enjoy your days!

The books are not yet in order......

........but sometimes I just look at them, and sigh a sigh of contentment because they are home again.

Aaaahhhhhh.......

Not much of anything has been done at all lately.  For the past couple of weeks I have felt slightly ailing....but not ill.  Possibly coming down with a cold......but no, it seems not.  There has been a lot of lack of energy though; fortunately that seems to be going and some stitches were sewn in the sewing room today on the lime green purse. More will be sewn when I get off the computer.  The knitting has been continuing in the evenings as it's a great in-front-of-TV pastime, the front is nearly up to the armhole decrease.

Consequently no photos have been taken lately, either!  However, I've been trawling through the Great Photo File and found a few.

This callistemon - Aussies call them 'bottle brush' - was in our garden in the Big Smoke.

 These spring daffodils were in the garden of a very old house in a small town, an hour south of where we lived at the time.

The jacaranda tree in our Big Smoke back yard with a neighbour's huge house extension in the background, one of the reasons we moved.  I'm not sure why this photo has attached itself to the previous one; I can't be this beautiful and have a technical brain as well, you know.

Jacaranda trees are beautiful.  They originally come from South America but grow well in many other countries including much of Australia, and the view across our town in spring with those blue trees in bloom against the green hills is a glorious sight.  Ours was a self-sewn seedling a few years after we moved to the house, and twenty years later when we moved out it was a big spreading tree which took up a lot of the small yard but gave wonderful summer shade.

Lovely as that tree was, we don't miss living in the Big Smoke.  We have settled in here now.

The local historical museum is having its biennial (bi-annual? something that happens every two years, at any rate) open day next month and I have offered to demonstrate treadle machine sewing.  First, though, the machine needs to be cleaned and oiled.....and much practice needs to be done, I haven't treadled for a long time......I have two mid-1920s Singer 66 model treadle machines, one bought by my grandmother in about 1926 to make baby clothes for my mother and her little brother, the other given to me by my brother about 16 years ago because his neighbour was going to take it to the rubbish dump although there was nothing wrong with it.  They are wonderful machines.

"In every class of life, in all professions and occupations, good manners are necessary to success.  The business man has no stock-in-trade that pays him better than a good address.  If the retail dealer wears his hat on his head in the presence of ladies who come to buy of him, if he does not see that the heavy door of his shop is opened and closed for them, if he seats himself in their presence, if he smokes a pipe or cigar, or has a chew of tobacco in his mouth, while talking with them, or is guilty of any of the small incivilities of life, they will not be apt to make his shop a rendezvous, no matter how attractive the goods he displays."

Fortunately it has been a long time since a retail dealer was chewing tobacco in my presence.

Enjoy your days!

Best of all - we have our books back!

Early this week a nice young couple drove four hours to our house (all part of the insurance service, they packed up our books and treasures months ago too), carried a heap of boxes from the garage into the house, and unpacked our books and stuff.  The books used to be in order, they aren't now but will be again.  My music books are back......and my quilting and sewing books.......  I am a happy woman.

That is the end of the insurance claim for flood damage, six months to the day.

Sighing a contented sigh here, folks.

After the slow start my knitting is progressing beautifully.

 As you can see below, I do know how to knit fancy patterns.

The centre panel looks familiar, yes?  Because almost all my knitting pattern books were packed in the garage there was limited design choice available for a feature panel on the new jumper; I looked online but there was so much choice it was confusing.  One booklet hadn't been packed because it was in another room at the time, it was bought......oh, 20 years or so ago, probably more......and has instructions for four jumpers.  I loved them all so decided to eventually make each one, and this was first.  Two others were also made and are worn each winter, the fourth was started but was messed up - it's the most complicated of the four, this is the simplest and I love the colour and the design.  I'll make that really fancy jumper one day, though.

During the week I took myself, a uke and a song book along to the U3A uke group......not too sure about it......there were only three attendees besides me, and they are way behind my level.  Not wishing to boast, just stating a fact.  I didn't even play that slow when I was learning.  Apparently the Token Bloke who seemed to be leading the group (by a whisker, I think) prefers to play slowly and the others tag along behind.  The two women asked me how fast I would play, so I played at what I would consider a normal speed, they bravely joined in - and guess what, their fingers didn't fall off and the earth didn't stop spinning on its axis.  I pointed out that if we singing but not playing ukes we wouldn't sing that slowly, and they agreed.  The group co-ordinator hinted that I may end up leading them.  We'll see.

A couple of days ago we had our coldest morning temperature for four years, minus 5.3 deg C, but there was no frost......strange......we have had frosty mornings with milder temps.  It must have been very dry.  Rain showers are forecast for tomorrow, forecasts have been wrong before but we live in hope that this time it will be right.  It's a very dry season.

"Another condition of domestic happiness is intellectual sympathy,  Man requires a woman who can make his home a place of rest for him, and woman requires a man of domestic tastes.  While a woman who seeks to find happiness in a married life will never consent to be wedded to an idler or a pleasure-seeker, so a man of intelligence will wed none but a woman of intelligence and good sense."

A woman of intelligence and good sense......that sounds like me, don't you think?

Enjoy your days!

And finally.......we have furniture!

Our trip to the Big Smoke last weekend was hectic, but we now have our replacement furniture.  Kevin has been having a lovely time putting it together......just one desk left to go.

We don't miss the Big Smoke.  It was lovely to come home to the Small Smoke, where traffic is low and the air is quiet.  After seven years we belong here......not there.

On Friday night we paid a visit to our old music club and it was lovely catching up with folk again!  Not so many familiar faces though, lots of new ones, and much electronic gimcrackery with microphones and backing tracks and such like.  We used to be totally unplugged with just voices and instruments and no amplification because the acoustics in the hall are excellent.

Ah well.  Change happens.  We accept that, but we don't have to like the changes.

The trip down and back was livened up by flowering wattle alongside the highways - isn't it the most glorious colour?

 My knitting came along with me; the front of my newest creation was cast on, and 20 rows of ribbing completed.  The pattern I'm using from a book is plain; this travelling rib design was added to the front because I felt it needed something to give it a little oomph.  On the way home I started the pattern above the rib, knitted one row and realised that my calculations were out by 12 stitches.  We made a pit stop, I sat down with a coffee, pen and paper, and worked it out again.  (I'm better with words than with numbers, you know, it's no surprise there was a miscalculation) That row was un-knitted, and it was started again.

Two-thirds of the way along the third row I realised that I hadn't been following the directions correctly; instead of purling the background stitches I had been knitting them, so the relief pattern didn't stand out the way it should.  Le big sigh......those two and two-thirds rows were once more un-knitted, and it was started again......

......and now it's working out correctly, for which many sighs of relief are being sighed.  It's my current in-front-of-TV project; back and sleeves are already finished.  With luck, it may be ready to wear before winter is done although I am a long way from being the world's fastest knitter, and these days the old arthritic fingers don't like knitting for too long at a time so they need to take several breaks.

Because this is such a busy week not one stitch has been sewn in the sewing room.  Tomorrow is not looking good either......neither is Saturday, and Sunday is booked too......perhaps by the middle of next week there could be hope for a seam, or even two......

This morning I joined the local chapter of U3A!  They have a ukulele class on Wednesdays so I will check it out, because too much music is never enough.  There may even be other activities which appeal.

"Idleness a source of misery.
Perhaps the greatest cause of misery and wretchedness in social life is idleness.  The want of something to do is what makes people wicked and miserable.  It breeds selfishness, mischief-making, envy, jealousy and vice, in all its most dreadful forms."

That's pretty strong stuff, isn't it?  I, for one, am doing my best not to be idle.

Enjoy your days!

Like Goldilocks, it's just right

Recently I was browsing in a local quilt shop and found The Very Thing for the back of the Gumballs quilt.  While it wasn't previously at the top of the "to be quilted" list, the backing fabric was purchased and pieces have been cut to make more blocks so it has now moved up the list.  The Cunning Plan for the back is a wide piece of blue fabric, a narrow strip of orange, a row of pieced blocks, another narrow strip of orange, and the blue fabric to finish, as you can see below.

See why it called to me?  Different tones of blue with orange and gold spots.....the quilt top is pieced blocks in blue, orange and gold......how could I leave this on the shelf?  The orange fabric was also purchased because my stash didn't include a large piece of orange batik, and it will also be used for the binding.

We're well and truly into the depths of winter now.  Winter here is much milder than many parts of the world, and much colder than other parts.  Now that the house is carpeted again it is warm and our new fire is wonderful, so we won't be frozen little icicles by the time spring rolls around again.

Today has seen a buzz of activity in the kitchen.  A half-leg of lamb is roasting away in the slow cooker (using this recipe) for dinner tonight, potatoes and sweet potatoes will be roasted later.  I also made some roast sweet potato soup, it's done but we are yet to try it.  Winter is soup and roast time, isn't it?  Not ice cream weather, that's for sure.

Right now there is a heap of sport on TV and the woman of this house is not much of a sport fan.  The household bloke is enjoying watching the cycle race in France and the tennis in England, while I am fighting off boredom.  The TV is in the warmest room so in the evenings I just hunker down in my beautiful green chair and read......and read......knit a few rows, then read again......say "hmmm" at the appropriate time......I've been reading free mystery books on my tablet for quite a while; I like a bit of blood and gore but I am selective, you know.  The cover picture and blurb help me decide whether I will download and read it; if it has a bloke wearing very little while showing off his bare chest it won't make the cut.  The words "mystery" and "romance" together make me shudder, "cosy mysteries" are often very twee and not quite my taste, neither are books about international espionage/saving the world in five minutes/ancient holy relics suddenly reappearing after centuries/anything with a medical or legal background/anything with more than the merest hint of the supernatural/anything wallowing in teenage angst/serial killers/psychological horror stories......I want to be entertained, not have the bejabbers frightened out of me.  It also has to have at least 200 pages.  The current book is set in England the the main bloke (it would be stretching it to call him the hero) is a fairly depressing man whose aunt and uncle turn up dead leaving him the sole heir.  The story is interesting enough to ignore his continual need for a cigarette and/or a glass of whisky.

Looking at old shows, or shows set in the past, it's hard to believe that people smoked so much, isn't it?  I have never smoked in my life not ever never, not one ciggy has touched my lips, none of the funny stuff either, despite being married to a smoker for five years when I was young and silly.  I can't, and never could, stand the smell.

"Take care of the eyes.
The utmost care should be taken of the eyes.  They should never be strained in an imperfect light, whether that of shrouded daylight, twilight or flickering lamp or candle-light.  Many persons have an idea that an habitually dark room is best for the eyes.  On the contrary, it weakens them and renders them permanently unable to bear the light of the sun.  Our eyes were naturally designed to endure the broad light of day, and the nearer we approach to this in our houses, the stronger will be our eyes and the longer will we retain our sight."

Probably.

Enjoy your days!

To my Canadian family and friends......

......best wishes for Canada Day!

We have carpet too!

Carpet is good.....so much better than grey concrete floors, which are cold.......and grey......very grey......the carpet is sort-of-beige, it goes well with the creamy walls and sort-of-beige kitchen and new floor tiles which have sort-of-beige streaks on a paler background.  We are slowly putting the house back together again; furniture is re-appearing where it should be instead of being packed away.

Grey seems to be popular in home decor lately, have you noticed?  We watch renno porn (there are a lot of home renovation programs on TV these days, it's easy to get hooked) and grey is very popular.  Grey kitchens.....grey living rooms......grey bathrooms......even grey bedrooms.  Why would anyone want to sleep in a cold grey bedroom, I wonder?

Bianca approves, because she can now stretch out on the living room floor again.

In a couple of weeks we will be driving to the Big Smoke for a quick in-and-out shopping trip to buy furniture to replace that which had to be chucked after the flood.  We don't have a branch of The Big Swedish Store here (they don't pay me to advertise but I'm sure you know who I mean) so that's where we will be heading.

Today is raining, yay!  Very welcome rain following an extremely dry month so far.  It's a good day to be sewing and that's where I have been, quilting together fabric, lining and thin batting for a new purse.  Mindless feeding of fabric through machine......sometimes that's just what one feels like doing, and watching the kangaroos on the hill who are also enjoying a wet day.

Here is the one block made at the recent workshop.

 The centre is not quite as mismatched as it looks here, but then my standards are pretty low when it comes to points anyway.  So long as it passes the 'ten foot rule' - it looks good when you stand ten feet back - that's all I ask.

The design......I started doodling from the bottom left corner then turned it upside down so the coloured diamonds drip from the top.  It may end up having the red line on the left and the indigo line on the right when it's put together, because my brain sees the long line (regardless of colour) on the left tapering to the short line on the right.  This layout looks......wrong.  Reversed, or something.

 Rainbow solids, although I may end up getting a lighter brighter orange and changing the red too.  The green will stay; it's rather gorgeous, isn't it?

Backgrounds will be black and white prints, as you can see in the finished block.

Last weekend's uke gig went well considering we had only five people; it's winter here, so folk are dropping like flies.  However people said nice things to us and about us, and we had fun.  We have no more gigs lined up, but I have started thinking about a song for next year's Eisteddfod.  I have twelve months to come up with something.....it will need to be fabulously good, I don't want a dreary church choir to be adjudged more entertaining again......

"Mutual trust and confidence are other requisites for happiness in married life.  There can be no true love without trust.  The responsibility of a man's life is in in a woman's keeping from the moment he puts his heart into her hands.  Without mutual trust there can be no real happiness."

I am trusting Kevin to put furniture back where it belongs......does that count?

Enjoy your days!

We have fire too!

Is this not the most beauteous wood stove you have ever seen, all the way from Duncan, B.C., Canada?

 Bianca approves too, although she didn't hang around to be photographed.

We had a choice of side panel colours, and chose ivory because lime green (or any other shade of green) wasn't available.  Burnished copper metallic finish was truly gorgeous but quite expensive, so we passed.

You can see some of the new floor tiles, and the draped creature in my sewing room is my overlocker.  It's covered to keep dust out when not in use.  My sewing room is now back together, and usable.

New carpet will be installed next week.  We hadn't heard from the carpet shop to say ours had arrived so Kevin rang them - and we were told that the arrangement was, we would ring when we were ready to have it installed.  We didn't know that; neither of us could recall being told such words, we were under the impression that we would be contacted when it had arrived and was ready to be laid.  Hopefully all is now sorted, and late next week we will have warm floors again.

Then there will be replacement furniture to be purchased, books and other stuff unpacked and put back in place (we won't be doing that, it will be done for us) and our house will finally be back to where it was before 25th January.

Last Friday night I made my solo debut at the local Eisteddfod and, as I expected, I didn't win.  I had the audience smiling and laughing and singing along with me although none of them had heard the song before, and the applause was very enthusiastic.  The adjudicator was also smiling and singing.  However the winner, based on the adjudicator's decision as "the most entertaining performance" was a church choir who sang two dreary dirge-like songs.  Many people said to me "you should have won", "I had you picked as winner", etc. which was very nice of them.  Even one of the main organisers was surprised as she also complimented me and indicated that she wasn't thrilled by the result.  However we agreed that the adjudicator is always right even when they are wrong, and I shall have another go next year - she said "don't let this put you off".  I don't wish to sound like sour grapes but I think the verdict had a certain amount of charity in it because, quite frankly, the choir just aren't very good; other performers were much better singers/instrumentalists, and were certainly more entertaining.

Ah well.  Onward and upward.  The uke group has a gig next weekend and I am sure we will have fun.

My brain is coming back to normal after a busy weekend.  Our quilt group held a workshop with Jenny Bowker; some of the time was spent designing, and some cutting and sewing.  It was much better than just being handed a pattern and being told to make it.  We explored various ideas for kaleidoscope quilts, made our fabric choices, started cutting and a few blocks were made......I made one whole block.  Just one, but I know where my quilt is going.  I started playing around with coloured pencils and a sheet of paper printed with kaleidoscope blocks and came up with an Art Deco-influenced design but didn't have the right fabrics with me, so drew another design of solid rainbow-coloured dripping diamonds which I started making.  The whole quilt, all 49 blocks of it, will be foundation pieced because that's what Jenny taught........I don't love foundation piecing, it's so tedious.......

Making it will be like eating an elephant, just taken steadily one bite at a time.

"Signature of ladies.
Only the letters of unmarried ladies and widows are addressed with their baptismal names.  The letters of married ladies are addressed with their husbands' names, as "Mrs John Smith".

I don't know when that custom started, but I have never liked it.  My name is "Jennifer Lastname" not Kevin lastname", regardless of whether I am Mrs, Ms or Miss.