Marching along

A couple of days into February already....where has the year gone?

How is everyone coping with the heat?  We had some very hot weather during the week - including the hottest day of the year.  Fortunately it has eased off a bit now, and once we get further into February it will get a little cooler.  We hope.  At least we are not being flooded out of house and home unlike those poor people in the far north, or burnt out like those in parts of Victoria.  As the poem says: "I love a sunburnt country....droughts and flooding rains" indeed.

Because it has been so hot I didn't get as much of the binding sewn down on my quilt as I had hoped.  There's nothing like a large heavy quilt on one's lap when the temperature hits 40 deg C, is there?

Proof that some binding was, indeed sewn down.  One side is nearly done; the quilt is about 85 inches square, so one side is a lot of stitching with a sometimes tender hand....let along multiplied by four.

This week's trees.  I had hoped to have them done by Australia Day, but it was not to be....never mind, they are done now.  This dull green is the colour of some eucalypt trees; if we drive just an hour north-west, or an hour west, these are the colours we see.  It's very different to the brighter green around here.

A bright yellow block, because our National Flower is the Golden Wattle.

The colours of Australia.

The two fabrics used as trunk and branches were part of a bundle which came home with me from one of our trips to Canada, all of which have been useful for trees.

Our musical guest sent a message the day after arriving home to say he had tested positive for the covid plague, but we have been free of symptoms.  Apparently a few of the musicians also came down with it, but they were spending a lot of time rehearsing, performing or just hanging out together playing music - we attended a few concerts, but we weren't spending time in the same confined spaces as they were.  We certainly weren't still playing music at 2 a.m.  Although I have done so in the past, you know......

Stitches have been sewn.  Words have been read.  Not many notes have been plinked; considering that today is World Play Your Ukulele Day I shall play a few later, because it would be the right thing to do so - yes?  We have ventured out to hunt and to gather, an easier process now that the musical tourists have gone back from whence they came.

We have a good local op shop which posts regularly on social media, and on Thursday - "Random Thursday" - their post showed two really nice chairs.  Hmm....I thought, showed the picture to Kevin who liked them too, so after lunch we drove across the river to check them out......but they were gone!  Already sold!  What a disappointment.  Never mind; while we were there I found something else I have been looking for, so far in vain.  I now have a two-drawer wooden filing cabinet to organise all those sheets of music which have been copied and printed, a piece of furniture which doesn't scream "office" and which can sit neatly in a corner.  Sometimes you can be lucky after all, can't you?

On Wednesday our U3A group had their annual 'Launch Day' for people to put their name down for courses which interest them, and we have a couple of new people for the ukulele group.  A few of the names from last year were nowhere in sight - including the previous leader, the person who with no notice dropped the role in my lap while I was still recovering from the Big Fall and its aftermath.  I know it's probably not very nice of me, but I hope she doesn't come; I always feel she is testing me to see how I am doing and giving me a score of nil out of 20.

Ah well.  We shall see how it goes.

"Retaining possession of a seat. 

A gentleman in travelling may take possession of a seat and then go to purchase tickets or look after baggage or procure a lunch, leaving the seat in charge of a companion, or depositing travelling-bag or overcoat upon it to show that it is engaged.  When a seat is thus occupied, the right of possession must be respected, and no one should presume to take a seat thus previously engaged, even though it may be wanted for a lady.  A gentleman cannot, however, in justice, vacate his seat to take another in the smoking-car, and at the same time reserve his rights to the first seat.  He pays but for one seat, and by taking another he forfeits the first."

These days, if a gentleman left a travelling-bag or overcoat on a seat while stepping away for a short while, he may find his possessions gone and another person occupying the seat in his place.  One would hope that is not the case, but one fears it might be.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer