How do you eat an elephant?

Just take it one bite at a time, and it will be done.

Yesterday the first pieces were cut for a new quilt.  Several hundred still need to be cut......but they will be, even if only a few at a time, just like eating an elephant!  Digging into my stash of autumn leaf prints, many of which were bought on trips to Canada, always makes me happy.  The pattern is from an Aussie quilt magazine from several years ago, although it won't ~quite~ be made according to the pattern; more rows will be added to the sides to make it square and balance the pattern (the magazine quilt is rectangular, I don't care for that) and the construction method for the 15 Maple Leaf blocks will be changed.

It is my turn next month to provide a block for the Tuesday group's BOM.  We have a Tuesday group and a Saturday group; some people go to both and some to only one of these.  My blocks are always pieced.....no applique for me......and have often had intricate designs, but this one is simpler.  Even the most triangularly challenged should have no trouble with it.

 Just three different fabrics, two tone on tones and a print.  Block is called "Amish Diamond" from Quilter's Cache website but I decided to call it "Autumn Diamond".  It will get acquainted with the iron before it is shown to the group as an example.

Our little wattle bush is starting to flower, another week and it should be glorious!  When it was first planted something (possibly ants) took a liking to it and chewed the tender leaves, leaving just one stalk with a few leaves at the top.  Kevin was all for pulling it out because it didn't look too flash at all, but I convinced him to let it stay because at least those remaining leaves were green and healthy.

It then shook itself, pulled up its little green socks, and decided to concentrate on recovering.  Took a couple of years but it did so, and last year flowered for the first time.  

Many Aussie native plants are slow to get established, and only live for a few years compared to hundreds of years for trees in colder climates.  We know this and accept it, and enjoy them while we can......then when it dies off we plant something else to enjoy.  Pretty sure we have a self-seeded wattle tree in our front garden thanks to a bird or the wind, when and if it flowers we will know what it is for sure.

Winter is still proceeding, nights and mornings are cold and sometimes frosty while days are mild and mostly sunny with not a cloud in the sky.  If only the drought wasn't so dire it would be lovely winter weather, but we would like clouds and rain!  For some time now we have been on Level Four restrictions which means no, absolutely no, use of water outside at all.  Dishes are rinsed in a bucket in the sink before going in the dishwasher then that water is used on plants, which is allowed.  We do, however, put clean water in our bird baths - that comes under animal welfare, which is also permitted.

Bianca is still around.  A few weeks ago she became very frail, was barely eating, and was quite listless - we expected to find her gone one morning on her bed in front of the fire.  However she rallied, is eating again, and sometimes runs around the house like a six month old kitten.  We know, though, that she probably won't be around for much longer.....but she is happy and doesn't seem in pain, so we won't make that final trip to the vet just yet.

Kevin and I have been together for 45 years; I brought my cat Smokey into our relationship (got custody of Smokey when my first marriage ended), and we have always had at least one kitty.  The house won't seem right with none.

"Dinner A La Russe.

The latest and most satisfactory plan for serving dinners is the dinner a la Russe (the Russian style) - all the food being placed upon a side table, and servants do the carving and waiting.  The style gives an opportunity for more profuse ornamentation of the table, which, as the meal progresses, does not become encumbered with partially empty dishes and platters."

I wonder how many servants one would need to serve a cut-up elephant?  Or how many would be needed for the cutting up thereof?

Enjoy your days!

My nose is staying inside today

So is the rest of me.  It is so cold that not so much as the tip of my nose has been poked outside, and yesterday was nearly as bad.  The wind is quite nasty and chilly.  Snow has fallen about 40 minutes away - we're in a valley, but the towns on higher ground not far from here see snow nearly every winter.  Our "feels like" hasn't gone over 3.1 C today, and as it's already 4 p.m. it won't get any higher.

Never mind.  It's good to finally have winter weather.

Stitches have been taken by machine in the sewing room, as well on the repro tumblers......they have become my TV project, as well as going many places with me.  Waiting for appointments can be very boring, and every stitch taken keeps me from snapping at whoever is playing loud music to turn it off.  If you come to our house you will get our taste in music, but that's our prerogative - I don't like being in places where the latest 'hits' are blasted at me so it's classical, folk, jazz here.

Several years ago when Kevin travelled around as a sales rep the car radio kept him entertained, and one day an interview on marketing was broadcast.  One statement made was, if you don't like the music being played in a store you are not their target customer.  Well, gee.......no store wants me!  A couple of years ago an excellent women's clothing store here closed, its owner played background jazz (she was a singer) which made it a fun place to shop.  The clothes were really nice, too.  It's difficult to even shop for knickers now without being assailed by noise, isn't it?

Some pics taken on holidays a few years ago, first a yellow-tailed black cockatoo, a very handsome bird.

 Isn't it gorgeous?  It lived in an aviary with several other parrots and other birds, and one young magpie quite fancied those beautiful yellow tail feathers......so much so that it chased poor Cocky around until it managed to pull one out!  Maggie walked away with a "how smart am I" look on its little feathery face and a yellow feather hanging from its beak, while Cocky shook itself and muttered something about "young people these days having no respect".  It was very funny. 

A sleepy Major Mitchell cockatoo, I would love to see these in the wild.

 A pheasant of some sort, not an Aussie native as the cockies are.  You can see why ladies of old liked to trim their hats with a pheasant feather or two, can't you?

Our local birds have been lying low somewhere in yesterday and today's cold wind, we haven't seem many at all.

Last weekend the choir had its time in the spotlight, fame and glory beckoned us.  Our choir director Bill celebrated 60 years since his first teenage role in a production by our local Musical Society (founded in 1888 and still going strong, the oldest in Australia) so the Society staged a celebratory concert and we were in the finale.  It was amazing to be part of such a wonderful tribute; when Bill was approached early last year he said he would like the choir to be in it, because we are his musical life now that he doesn't take roles on stage any more.  Looking out at a full theatre from on stage was awesome, people even came from interstate and from the Big Smoke.  Bill is held in very high esteem, and we are lucky to have him.

"The letter of friendship.

This should be of a more dignified tone, contain less trivialities than the family letter, and should embrace matters that will be of interest to both.  A letter of friendship should be answered in due time, according to the intimacy of the parties, but should not be delayed long enough to allow the friendship to cool, if there is a desire to keep it warm."

These days it is probably "the email of friendship"......not many of us write letters any more.

Enjoy your days!