Living in a bubble

Work has started on the floor.....yay!!

The old tiles have been removed and the dried stuff underneath has been removed by grinding to a fine grey gritty powder which seeps into cupboards and into noses and eyes and through closed cupboard doors all over the contents therein.  The builder bloke taped up a plastic wall (which was supposed to keep out dirt but didn't completely) to the ceiling, so this is what our living room looked like from the inside:

 The table doesn't usually live here, but we have to eat somewhere.  The TV is to the right, this was our living quarters for a few days.  The light on the left is in the kitchen, and straight ahead is a large floor-to-ceiling window on the back wall.

 From the kitchen, looking into our bubble.......everywhere a grey gritty mess.  But the work on the floor is underway, so we are rejoicing!

This week we will be moving out for a couple of days; the alternative is to stay in our bedroom and not eat, not go outside the bedroom at all, because those new tiles (which did arrive) can't be walked on for a day or so when they are first installed, so we would be trapped.  The insurance pays for our accommodation and we pay for Bianca's.  That's all right.

But the week hasn't been all grey grit and noise - yesterday I put a top together!

What do you reckon?  I love it.  Pattern is Gumballs from McCall's Quilting, April 2008.  Think I will change the name though, I'm not enamoured of Gumballs.  I shall ponder on a suitable title.  It's turned out exactly as I hoped it would, and I love the complimentary colour scheme.

I make it a rule never to make a quilt twice, there are so many great ideas and patterns out there that I have never even made once which I would love to try first, but wouldn't this look great in black and white with little pops of bright colour......maybe one day......

My knitting project is going great guns.  While we were away I finished the back of my new jumper (sweater, if you aren't in Australia) and am charging up the first sleeve, it's nearly to the armhole now.  Back and sleeves are plain and I will gussy up the front with a fancy cable or something.  I have never tackled making socks but have been making jumpers since I was about 23, fearlessly using patterns with lace, fancy cables - you name it.  The thought of making fiddly socks gives me the heeby jeebies; I would far rather make an elaborate jumper any day.

Is anyone else's sense of humour tickled by the descriptions of some things?  For a while now it seems that we don't wear pants, we wear a pant.  I thought that was what dogs did when they were trying to cool off.....we also wear the jean, the trouser, the tight.  On our leg, perhaps?  Just one?  One clothed and one naked leg?

Oh dear......

"Morning dress for gentlemen.
The morning dress for gentlemen is a black frock-coat, or a black cut-away, white or black vest, according to the season, gray or colored pants, plaid or stripes, according to the fashion, a black silk hat, and a black scarf or necktie.  A black frock coat with black trousers is not considered essential, nor is a dress coat and colored or light trousers.  The morning dress is suitable for garden parties, Sundays, social teas, informal calls, morning calls and receptions."

They wore trousers in 1885, it seems.  It sounds a very splendid costume, and one that, somehow, I cannot see my husband wearing.

Enjoy your days!

Aaaannndddd here we are, back home again......

We've been back for a week, and what a busy week it has been......appointments, often more than one, every day......but we seem to have caught up with things, so now it's the blog's turn.

We had a good time.  Didn't make it over to the coast, but there is always next year isn't there?  The folk festival was excellent as always, the family is doing well, Euan is sprouting up, friends are happy and healthy.  There were other distractions before we came home too; a craft festival, and even a ukulele festival which was great fun.

Also didn't take many pics!  Probably because we have been going to Canberra for so long that there doesn't seem to be anything left to photograph.  We missed our chance to get a Euan photo but never mind, our son has promised to take one of him with his quilt that I made him when he was a much littler tacker than he is now.

We had some company for a few days at the pet-friendly camp ground.

Two of the team of four Clydesdales associated with an Aussie brewery - they don't pay me to advertise so I won't name them.  Makes a change from the usual dogs and the occasional cat who camp with their owners, doesn't it?  They stayed for a few days, and were beautiful.

We found a new-to-us spot on the lake in Canberra, Black Mountain Peninsula.  This is Black Mountain looming up, and the tower is - wait for it - Black Mountain Tower, would you believe?

 Some of the black swans on Black Mountain peninsula.  Black swans are native to Australia but have been introduced to many other countries who, perhaps, believed their own white swans are not exotic enough.  I was snapping away when these three started edging toward me, and as I didn't trust the looks on their feathery little faces I put away the camera and backed away.  Slowly.

 You know how much I love autumn colour......a couple of oak trees in Boorowa, a favourite stop on our trips to and from Canberra.  The white building behind is the Court House, built in the 1880s.

Autumn colours everywhere were glorious.  Not quite up to the standard of a Canadian autumn, but not bad just the same.

Sadly not all our trip was good as I came down with a nasty bug which laid me low for several days.  However I recovered, and am now back to jumping out of my skin again.

Last week there was an Occasion.  The annual anniversary of the day on which I was born came round once more; this one is probably significant because it ends in 0, but all I can think is "geez......I am really old now".  We were on our way home in Mudgee and assumed because it was a Tuesday night - normally a quiet night in a country town, one would have thought - we would have no trouble getting a table for two at a local restaurant.......but no!  Two restaurants we tried were completely full so we ended up at a pub.  The food was excellent (Mudgee has a reputation for being somewhat of a gourmet town) but when all was said and done it was still just a pub, with a large TV showing a football program up on the wall.  Kevin gave me a surprise present, a beautiful wombat brooch, which went a long way towards making the TV recede into the background.

Isn't it gorgeous?  It doesn't have a coloured nose, the camera must have caught a reflection from somewhere.  It was made by Desmond of Celtic Dreaming; I have several of Desmond's pieces, some Celtic and some Australian, bought at the folk festival over the past nearly 20 years and I love them all.

The builder brought his tiler here a few days ago, and went off promising to order the new floor tiles immediately.  We hope he has.  Once they are in hand the repairs can, hopefully, start; our weather is cooling down and concrete floors are not warm.  It's also darker because grey concrete is darker than sort-of-beige carpet, and now that days are shorter and the sun is lower in the sky we find we need to turn lights on early in the afternoon.

Never mind......perhaps it will all start to happen soon.

"We put bright colours upon our little children; we dress our young girls in light and delicate shades; the blooming matron is justified in adopting the warm, rich hues which we see in the autumn leaf, while black and neutral tints are declared appropriate to the old."

Oh dear......seems I am now confined to black and neutral tints.  Well, bugger......I don't like neutral tints.  Neutral tints are dull.  Boring.  I suppose considering lime green to be a neutral is out of the question?

Enjoy your days!