Driving to......distraction?

Yesterday I drove the car for the first time in several months, yay for me!

Council elections were held yesterday, and instead of voting here in town we drove to a small village not far from us; we have voted there before, parking is easy and there are no queues, making it simple to place one's mark on the paper for one's candidate/s of choice.  The local school was running a barbecue outside the hall so one could buy a Democracy Sausage and help out a small school's fundraising efforts at the same time.  Kevin enjoyed a bacon and egg roll while I had a sausage, my sausage was one of the nicest I have had for a long time while Kevin said his roll and its contents were delicious.  The meat came from a butcher in a town further away from us.....I can feel a Nice Sunday Drive coming up on a weekday to visit that butcher and bring home some of its meat for ourselves.

And - I drove home!  I sat behind the wheel of the car for the first time in several months, turned it on, made it work and drove 15 minutes home.  It felt a little odd; the vibration coming from the motor to the steering wheel into my hand and arm was an odd feeling, but one I will no doubt get used to.  My hand is strong enough to hold the wheel now although it still can't make a tight fist, but that's another milestone passed - so that feels good.  There can't be many milestones left now, but I will a happy woman again when my hand finally stops hurting.

There has been progress on the quilting front, too.  All four peepers were sewn to Autumn Rhapsody's centre panel, and the two side borders joined as well.  The peeper isn't as prominent as in the magazine illustration because of my different fabric and colour choices, but it still draws a line between the centre and the borders.

The top and bottom borders will be added over the next few days then only the outer borders will remain to be done, and they still need to be cut.  I love it.....it's very mellow, isn't it?

The binding was cut for my blue and green quilt, and machine sewn to the front.  I'm glad that Fossil Fern 'Bluebell' fabric was used, it has turned out to be a good choice.

Sewing it down on the back is my in-front-of-TV project.  The weather has turned wintery again - today is downright chilly - so having a small quilt on one's lap isn't a problem at all.  Those olive greens don't, unfortunately, photograph well, they are much nicer in real life than in this pic; one of these days I will try to find out why this happens, and see if there is something which can be done to correct it.

As usual the daily wrist/hand exercises have been done.  Words have been read.   Stitches were sewn by hand and machine.  Songs have ben sung and notes plinked.  We shopped for supplies to get us through the week, and that's another seven days gone by.

Here we are, halfway through September already!  Daylight saving starts in this state on Sunday 6th October, just a few weeks away now.  Mornings are getting quite light quite early now, something not enjoyed by those of us who are not morning people, so darker mornings for a while will be good.  One summer many years ago we took our little caravan to southern Queensland, a state which does not have daylight saving, and those sunny early mornings were quite a shock to the system for those of us no longer used to them.  We have had daylight saving since the very early 1970s, indeed for much of my life.

Our rapidly approaching summer has been forecast to be either quite warm, or cooler and wetter than last year, depending on who you believe.  Personally, I like the idea of cooler and wetter, but if it's warmer - well then, there is nothing I can do about it, is there.  We will just have to suffer.  We will try to suffer in silence, but perhaps you will have to suffer with us.

Continuing with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"If you have engaged to sit for your portrait never keep the artist waiting one moment beyond the appointed time.  If you do so you should in justice pay for the time you make him lose."

Indeed, you should.  

We have been to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra which has an excellent café and gift shop, and many many portraits.....so many that, after a time, I found myself longing for an occasional landscape.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer