A momentous week

It has been, indeed!

First up: on Friday 19th March Kevin and I celebrated the 45th anniversary of the evening we stood up in front of family and friends, and plighted our troth.  Forty five years.....and neither of us has yet committed murder!

The forty five year anniversary gem is, it seems, sapphire.  Are these not gorgeous?

My jewellery collection, though no doubt modest by many standards, has some very pretty things including some earrings from Annette Piper; I like her designs and how she puts colours together.

Nothing was posted last weekend because - I went to a quilt show, the first for a couple of years!  A town an hour north of here has their show each March, but of course last year's had to be cancelled with not much notice.  This year's was a little smaller than usual, no doubt due to the restrictions on how many people can be in one place at a time, but the quilts were wonderful and it was good to be 'somewhere'.

Two houses have been made, a red swirly house, and an Aussie kangaroo house with grass for them to enjoy and cockatoos flying through the sky.  Only four more to be done; they will be a "when we are home again" project.

Work is happening on the flower basket quilt.  The date on this pic is 26th November, 2014 - these blocks have been sitting for a while, haven't they?  Never mind; they are now progressing.

All the triangles for the autumn quilt have been trimmed and they are now in their box ready for the next step which will involve lots of lovely mindless sewing.  No doubt you can see the gleam of my shiny halo from your place.

We had more rain during the week, and we even had a flood.  When I say "we had a flood" I don't mean Kevin and I, but the town!  Yes indeed, the river rose above the banks and flooded farmland and sports fields, two out of the three bridges were closed because they were under water, but as far as I know no buildings were damaged here......which is more than can be said for many other parts of the state.  There has been a lot of damage to a large area - why, oh why do councils permit building on areas known to be flood plains?  The more that natural drainage such as grass, undeveloped fields and creeks is covered by buildings and roads, the more damage there is.

When I rule the world, things will be different.

The day after tomorrow we are heading south for our holiday, to catch up with family and friends and to enjoy some autumn colour.  I probably won't have a chance to keep up with reading blogs on my aging tablet, but will resume when we are home again late next month.

"Refrain from making a noise when eating, or supping from a spoon, and from smacking the lips or breathing heavily while masticating food, as they are marks of ill-breeding.  The lips should be kept closed in eating as much as possible."

As children we were told "keep your mouth closed while you are eating", but judging from the behavious of people I have seen eating in public - not everyone was.  I wish they had been.

Enjoy your days!

It has rained, it has poured......

......and it will rain again soon, judging by the weather radar.  It's been a long time since I have driven in such heavy rain as I did on Thursday night coming home from choir, the closer I came to home the heavier was the rain and wind; Kevin was drenched running from the house to the garage, and we were both drenched getting inside.  Our garage is under the house roof but doesn't have an entrance inside the house which is normally not a problem, but it was that night.

The drought has broken in our backyard, for sure, and it's now raining steadily again.

Don''t you love our wet world?  Taken just a few minutes ago.

Two more houses made this week, bring the total to 55.  Six to go.

Another cat house and a butterfly house, both with flowery gardens.  Today's dull conditions make for dull photos.

Trimming of the autumn blocks has not yet happened.  It will.  Hand piecing a panel for the back of the tumbler quilt is done, now some machine work remains.  I have no idea about backing fabric; there is one possibility (which may be too busy) in my stash, and my favourite shop doesn't have anything which floats my boat either.  There is another quilt shop here but I seldom go in as the owner is a bit of an odd duck, although the fabric for the inner border was found there.  However - there are quilt shops in Canberra, so perhaps the perfect fabric awaits down south.

A year ago we were also planning a trip to Canberra for the folk festival, but it wasn't to be.  This time the trip will happen but the festival will not.  Last year our musician son had a gig lined up which we would have been able to attend, but it, too, had to be cancelled almost at the last minute - we were really looking forward to that, as we have so few chances to hear him play these days.  He is hoping to have one for us this time, so fingers crossed.  At least we will be able to be in the same room as family instead of having to grin at each other on a computer screen.

Bianca and I are keeping each other company for a few days as Kevin has gone Down To The Coast to play in a lawn bowls competition.  Last year his team made it through all their games to get to the state final, but then the world shut down and the final was postponed......and postponed again......now it is to happen over the next few days rain (probably), hail or shine.  He will be back sometime on Wednesday, so it will be a quiet house until then; not that he is a raucously loud person at any time, but having one person away when there are only two of you anyway always makes for a quieter house.  Bianca isn't much of a conversationalist unless it is getting near what she considers to be her dinner time.

Lately we have been noticing that trees are definitely getting ready for autumn.  Those bright greens are fading, and trees which produce seeds are doing so.  It will be cooler down south, autumn arrives earlier there - something to look forward to.  

"Greediness.

To put large pieces of food into your mouth appears greedy, and if you are addressed when your mouth is so filled, you are obliged to pause, before answering, until the vast mouthful is masticated, or run the risk of choking, by swallowing it too hastily.  To eat very fast is also a mark of greediness, and should be avoided.  The same may be said of soaking up gravy with bread, scraping up sauce with a spoon, scraping your plate, and gormandizing upon one or two articles of food only."

That last bit of gravy soaked up with bread is always delicious, don't you think?  Even if it gets us kicked out of a polite dinner party......

Enjoy your days!

Only eight houses to go!

There is a 'but' here......but we are going away in three weeks, so not all the houses will be made before we go because I am sticking to my goal of two per week.  Never mind; they will be here to welcome us home again and all houses will be done by the anniversary of our moving into this house, eleven years ago in May.

Aren't these fun with their colourful gardens?

A lavender house with a garden of iris, and a light green house with pots in its garden.  The green fabric was pulled from my stash to make the roof for the lavender house, and I liked it so much that it also became the next house.  It has been in my stash for a very long time, the selvedge says "Stained Glass for Quilters".

Some trimming has also been happening.  The blocks on the right have been trimmed but need to be pressed and have their corner 'ears' snipped off, while the pile on the left is awaiting trimming.  Too long spent with the cutter aggravates a soreness in my right forearm, so I take it easy and don't have marathon cutting/trimming sessions.  This is the autumn quilt.

Eventually both these quilts will be done.......and then I might have to think of a new one!

The coming week holds the promise of rain, even possibly quite a lot of rain.  We shall see.  We have watched promised rain clouds part and go around us before now; even with the weather site saying "95% chance of rain" we have missed out on even one drop.  Our town is on the edge of a wide valley with hills to the north and east, and those hills make their own weather.

We are now feeling confident about making plans for our sojourn down south.  Two interesting exhibitions will be on while we are in Canberra, one at the National Gallery of Australia of European paintings, and another at the National Library of Australia of Australian art - which is the one I really want to see.  Way back when I was a Sweet Young Thing and worked at the library here it held a copy of "The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia" with its beautiful engravings published in the 1880s, which was fascinating to a somewhat naive teenager who didn't know much about anything.  It was republished many years ago but I didn't get around to buying a copy, and now it's probably out of print.

My etiquette book is a reprint of a book from the 1880s.  Back in the 1970s-1980s several older books were reprinted in facsimile editions, meaning that they are an exact copy of the original......and this in the days before computers and scanners.  To all intents and purposes it is exactly as it would have been published in those earlier days, except of course for the information about it being a facsimile reprint.

By the way - if you have left a comment and I haven't answered it's not because I am ignoring you, I really love having visitors and like to reply!  It means that you are a "no reply blogger", so if you would like a reply you might want to check your settings.

"The knife and fork.

The knife and fork were not made for playthings, and should not be used as such when people are waiting at the table for the food to be served.  Do not hold them erect in your hands at each side of your plate, nor cross them on your plate when you have finished, nor make a noise with them.  The knife should only be used for cutting meats and hard substances, while the fork, held in the left hand, is used in carrying food into the mouth.  A knife must never, in any account, be put into the mouth.  When you send your plate to be refilled, do not send your knife and fork, but put them upon a piece of bread, or hold them in your hand."

I recall, as a child, being told "don't put your knife in your mouth".  To this day, if I do so - I do it with guilt while looking over my shoulder to see if my mother is watching, despite the fact that she has been gone since 1999.

Enjoy your days!