Two thirds of an Arboretum

66 blocks are now finished, and there are only 33 to go.

Would you call this colour greyish-green, or greenish-grey?  Not sure about the creatures either, they look like something which lives under the depths of the deep dark ocean.  It's leftover from fabric which came with a bag kit purchased in Canada several years ago, the fabric quantities given were very generous.

Such a dull colour needs a bright contrast, yes?

This blue fabric also made an appearance in Summertime Blues.  It puts me in mind of life under a coral reef, seaweed gently waving with the movement of water.

This week's underwater blocks, or sub aquatic if you like.

The weekly wattle pic, more of those little yellow balls of fluff have opened since this was taken a couple of days ago.

Next year's flowering shoots are already growing!

Wattles are known for not being very long-lived compared to other trees, but this keeps hanging on; I can't remember when we planted it, but it was several years ago now.  We have had native plants which were going along quite happily suddenly turn up their toes and die for no apparent reason - Aussie native plants are notoriously finicky, but that doesn't stop me from loving them - we keep expecting the wattle to succumb to a similar fate, but no.  Not yet.  If we had known when it was planted that it would grow so big, it would have been put in a different spot.....but perhaps then it might not have considered that to be the 'perfect' spot, and might not have grown as well as it has.

Not bad for a plant which nearly died soon after being planted.  Something was eating its tender green leaves and it looked a poor sick little thing; Kevin was going to rip it out....don't you dare I said, it's not dead yet, it has three little green leaves....so he left it......those leaves are slightly larger than a fingernail.  The card which came with it has been lost along the way, but it could be Knife Leaf Wattle.

How has everyone been this week?  We mooched around as usual; words have been read, stitches were sewn and knitted, the back of my jumper is finished and work is coming along nicely on the first sleeve.  (The decision has been made - it will be a jumper rather than a cardy.)  Songs were plinked and sung.  Sadly I am now on a break from choir, at least until such time as the U3A ukulele group moves away from Thursday afternoon.  An email was sent to members this week laying out the options which were - find another time to meet, or find another leader.  To date there have been a couple of replies, so we will talk about it on Thursday. 

We are still properly courting.

"It seems that circumstances must determine whether courtship may lead to engagement.  Thus, a man may begin seriously to court a girl, but may discover before any promise binds them to each other, that they are entirely unsuited to one another, when he may, with perfect propriety and without serious injury to the lady, withdraw his attentions."

These days we have forgotten how much damage could be done to a young woman's reputation by a broken engagement, haven't we?  Once tarnished it was very difficult to polish it up again, and indeed she could be considered 'damaged goods' which could make it hard to find her true love.

Australian writer Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson, as a young man, had a reputation for being of the love-'em-and-leave-'em persuasion.  For several years he was engaged to a woman named Sarah but the engagement was broken off - Sarah never married.  Her friend Christina was also pursued by young Mr Paterson, there were rumours of a dalliance - Christina never married.  It was said that mothers of eligible women did not trust young Mr Paterson.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer