The story so far

Arboretum's top is more than two-thirds done.

The resident holder-upper doesn't have a wide wingspan, hence the bottom is touching the ground.....but I love the stained glass effect looking out from our back verandah, don't you?  The remaining section will be done this week; it's a busy week with appointments, choir, quilt group, U3A ukulele starting back tomorrow, but somehow during those days I will find time to make three blocks each with nine trees in them, sew them together and join it to the right of this piece - then the top will be finished.

Getting this far is a good feeling.  Knowing how close the top is to being done is even better.

Thoughts have also been thought about a label for Arboretum.  One of the batik fabrics from the Big Basket is a pale yellow leafy print which will make a good label background while also looking suitably....leafy, and the details will be embroidered by hand.

When I retrieved the quilt from holder-upper Kevin's embrace a visitor fluttered in for a drink, a rainbow lorikeet, a species we often see hanging around this area.  

They are noisy chattering birds, and their bright plumage is very colourful.  When we moved to our last house in the Big Smoke back in 1987 we never saw them, but as the two Callistemon trees on the front footpath grew larger and produced more flowers - and more nectar - they were more frequent (and noisier!) visitors; by the time we moved out 23 years later their numbers had grown considerably.

Several years ago rainbow lorikeets were the inspiration for an art quilt challenge, with fun results.

Next Thursday, 7th May, will be the 16th anniversary of our moving out of the Big Smoke, and into this house.  It's been a good move, and we both know it's a better place for us to spend our declining years than in a huge metropolis with too much traffic, too many people, and construction everywhere you turn.  I used to like spending time in Parramatta which wasn't far away and which has some interesting old buildings to explore from colonial days, but these days it's just another huge city....and those attractive historic buildings are now dwarfed by their taller neighbours, something I'm glad not to see.  Some have even been deemed surplus to requirements and removed, knocked down, which I find a shame.

How has everyone been this week?  We have had the usual running around with appointments and shopping.  Words have been read, stitches have been sewn and knitted.  Songs have been sung.  Some practice went into refining the song for the Eisteddfod concert at the end of this month (so close!), and it's coming along well.

No rain fell this week, not one dribble or drip.  It has now been over five weeks since the last shower of rain, but we have hopes that the next day or two may bring a little drizzle.  Temperatures are still mild but next Friday is forecast to be an early taste of winter, so the winter woolies had better be checked to make sure they are fit to be seen in public.

Continuing on with Etiquette of Weddings:

"After the marriage invitations are issued, the fiancee does not appear in public.  It is also de rigeur at morning weddings that she does not see the bridegroom on the wedding-day, until they meet at the altar."

I find it strange that a newly-engaged woman has to hide herself away from public gaze until she becomes Mrs Someone Else.  Perhaps the idea is to stop her finding a bloke she prefers to the one who finally plucked up enough courage to pop the question?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Melting, melting.....

The past week has been almost unbearably hot, with many towns seeing record-breaking temperatures.  While our town didn't see records tumble (to quote a favourite media cliché) it has been quite nasty, at times, and we will be glad to see the last of it.  We even have hopes of some rain later; the heatwave has negated any benefit from rain of two or three weeks ago.

As a result almost nothing of consequence happened in the sewing room, certainly nothing worthy of a photo.  The moose table topper is now layered and pinned ready for quilting, which will be done during the coming week once cooler temperatures arrive; my brain turns to mush and I can't concentrate in such extreme heat as we have had.  

Trawling through the photo vault has yielded some gems.

During our last visit to Canada we stayed with friends on Vancouver Island, and while there we visited the Northern Island Wildlife Recovery Centre where we made the acquaintance of this interesting bird.

You have to smile at that comical face, don't you!  It was a large owl which came to the Centre after being hit by a vehicle; due to its damaged wing it could no longer fly and hunt, so it was living out its best life and educating visitors while doing so.

The year before we shook the dust of the Big Smoke from our heels we took ourselves on an outing to Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, which specialises in cool climate plants.  I don't remember the name of this plant but it was spring, so perhaps those autumn-like colours are its new spring growth; many Australian native plants have pale pinkish/bronze colouring for their new shoots.

The visitor centre had a display of waratahs, our state floral emblem.....I love waratahs.  There was a children's colouring competition, a display of individual blooms, mostly red but with some white - yes, white waratahs really exist - and floral arrangements featuring waratahs.

A close up of a vivid red waratah surrounded by its serrated leathery leaves, with a few fern fronds peeking in at the side.

On my bookshelf is a slim book about the waratah as a decorative feature, and very interesting it is too.  Back in the late 1800s there was a great interest in using Australian flora and fauna as decorative motifs, and the waratah was up there with the best;  you could decorate your home with waratahs carved in wood for your fireplace, printed on wallpaper for your wall or fabric for your curtains, painted on plates or cups to decorate your table....just about anything you desired could be decorated with waratahs, and very exuberant they were too.

Words have been read, many words, because staying out of that fierce heat with one's nose buried in a book was one way to spend several hot days.  No stitches have been knitted.  More diamonds have been cut for hand-piecing, and hand-piecing of diamonds continues.  At this rate, I will be able to open my own gem mine in no time at all. We braved the heat to go out for food.

In recent days the socials, as they seem to be called, have been alight with plaintive pleas of "can anyone hem my daughter's school dresses before school goes back next week?".  While I realise that not everyone has advanced or even basic sewing skills, if you have a daughter or two who wear dresses which need to have hems taken up and let down, would it not be an idea to learn some sewing skills in order to do so?  It's not haute couture, after all, just very basic sewing for which basic supplies are needed, and would save you money in the long run.  Basic sewing used to be taught in schools, to my knowledge it no longer is ('Textile and Design' was a subject when I worked in high school before retiring; students could make quite complicated creations, but I could not attest to their hemming skills) but as a 'life skill' it is invaluable.

Off my soap box.....

Our visitors departed on Tuesday morning, our musician friend sporting four new tyres on his blue car ($$$$!), something he wasn't expecting when he arrived here ten days earlier.  At least those new tyres made his long trip home a safe one, albeit something of a sticker shock.  We have sometimes had to sort out mechanical issues while away too, not a fun activity but a necessary one for a trip to continue.

"Conduct of the fiancée.

The conduct of the fiancée should be tender, assiduous and unobtrusive.  He will be kind and polite to the sisters of his betrothed and friendly with her brothers.  Yet he must not be in any way unduly familiar or force himself into family confidences on the ground that he is to be regarded as a member of the family.  Let the advance come rather from them to him, and let him show a due appreciation of any confidences which they may be pleased to bestow upon him.  The family of the young man should make the first advances toward an acquaintance with his future wife.  They should call upon her or write to her, and they may with perfect propriety invite her to visit them in order that they may become acquainted."

No doubt the young woman would be apprehensive to meet her future in-laws, as indeed he was to meet his.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

The blue and the green

Finally - a finish!

There are still a few bluebells flowering which wanted to be in the picture, too.  This has been a while waiting to be finished but the last stitches were put in the binding during the week, so I can claim a finish....the first for several months.

A close-up of the vertical quilting design.

All the unevenly spaced lines go in one direction, crossing and re-crossing.  Quilter Ann used a similar design on one of my quilts a few years ago which I quite like so I asked for the same idea, but this time using as many different threads as she wished - provided they were blue or green.  What a great idea, she said....there is always thread left over after working on a quilt....so there is a mix of blues and greens in both solid and variegated threads.    Both Ann and I were thrilled with the result.  Size is 48in by 60 in, no borders, just binding to finish the edge.

Finished is a great feeling!

The strips for the inner border of Autumn Rhapsody have been cut.  They still need to be joined into one long strip, and the outer border fabric needs to be cut; the fabric is nearly six metres long, so the borders will be cut along the length rather than across.  That means there will be no joins to interrupt the leaf pattern, it's too gorgeous to break up.....and, of course, the borders will be mitred.

The promised rain came during the week, now the garden looks washed and refreshed.  One of our resident magpie family popped in for a visit and perched on our verandah railing out of the falling rain, talk about looking bedraggled and despondent.....poor Maggie.....

The babies have hatched, and can now be heard clamouring to be fed.  Their appetite seems insatiable but I suppose, like most young folk, they are in a hurry to grow and get out into the world.

Ozzie Magpies have a bad reputation due to their habit of swooping anyone who comes near their nest when the babies are young.  Being swooped is quite a scary experience; many many years ago I was swooped and pecked on the head, so I very smartly moved away from the tree under which I was standing.  Being away from home at the time meant I was unfamiliar with local nests!  They are very smart birds and can recognise faces and voices - our resident maggies from the trees on the hill certainly know us and sometimes come for a visit, and we love their melodious song.  The swoopers are usually male birds, and the worst thing a swoopee can do is run, or try to cycle away quickly......better to get off that bike and walk, cross to the other side of the road if possible, and quietly go about your business without annoying any more magpies.  Last spring there was a problem with swooping magpies near a couple of shops here, but rather than walkers or cyclists those being swooped were women with prams or strollers.  I would guess that a woman with a pram chased a magpie away or annoyed it in some way, and it didn't forget.....but, after all, those birds are protecting their babies, too.

Words have been read.  Diamonds have been cut and sewn.  Notes have been plinked and sung, but now the ukulele groups are on holiday as several members are on grandparent duty, so we will resume in a few weeks.  We hunted and we gathered.  My exercises were diligently done and, as they used to say back in much earlier times, so has another sennight passed.

Over the past few days I have noticed that the nails on the three middle fingers of my right hand each have a bump going across their width.  I can only assume that damage was done when I fell and broke my arm; it happened so quickly that my recollections of how I landed are hazy, but I think that my clenched fingers were caught underneath my hand when I landed on it.  The fingers were certainly bruised and sore for quite some time, and indeed are still tender.  Eventually the nails will regrow, hopefully without bumps.

Oh well.  At least nothing has fallen off.

"Gentlemen passing before ladies.

Gentlemen having occasion to pass before ladies who are already seated in lecture and concert rooms, theatres and other public places, should beg pardon for disturbing them; passing with their faces and never with their backs toward them."

A favourite café of ours on our trips to Canberra is much frequented by cyclists.  Their lycra shorts leave nothing to the imagination, and we certainly don't want their backsides in our face; on one occasion Kevin murmured quietly to me, as those tight black bums passed much too closely to where we were sitting......"it's not very becoming, is it?"

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Strolling around

Our weather this week has been distinctly un-wintery, although overcast, so it's not a bad day for a stroll around our small - very small - back yard.

The rosemary bush in front is threatening to take over the universe; it was planted a few years ago during the last drought and seems to quite like being where it is.  We also planted one in our front garden but as it doesn't get as much sun - the back gets sun nearly all day - it's much smaller.

Another rosemary planted not long after we moved here several years ago and now growing through the fence, this one has lighter-coloured flowers.  The rather scrappy-looking shrub (which is actually very healthy, this is just how they grow) behind is 'Eremophila Aurea'.  Eremophila is an Aussie plant which is much loved by birds and pollinating insects - this yellow flowering one ('Aurea' means yellow or gold coloured) is a favourite with honeyeaters and with Eastern Rosellas.  Honeyeaters have long beaks and tongues which they poke inside the flowers to reach the sweet nectar, while the rosellas bite the flowers off at the base and extract nectar that way, leaving dropped flowers in their wake.

A clump of snowdrops, which we didn't plant!   They were left by the previous owner and pop up nearly every year.....not bad, considering we have been here for 14 years now.

Our disappearing fence.  The back yard is narrow, so a wire fence - once again, it was in place when we moved here - visually 'disappears' giving the illusion that our backyard is extensive instead of small and easy-care.....and yes, sometimes kangaroos come fairly close to the fence.

The week hasn't been entirely wasted, as the third border for Autumn Rhapsody was finished.  This is how the design wraps around the corners.

A start has been made on pinning some of the final border.

Words have been read. and both hand and machine sewing has been done.  Diamonds have been cut.  Songs have been sung, and notes plinked; our U3A ukulele group is drifting along nicely, although there are always people away.  We hunted and gathered to keep the wolf from the door, and that was the week.

I had my final visit to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday, and he is pleased with how my arm, wrist and hand are progressing.  Talk about a run around; on my previous visit to Emma physio we made my next appointment for Friday as the appointment with the orthopedic bloke was tomorrow, Monday, and Emma wanted to see me beforehand.  Early in the week a phone call from the ortho bloke's receptionist full of apologies, so sorry, Jennifer, he has a full day of surgery on Monday, can we re-schedule.....no problem, says I, so an appointment was made for 11.15 a.m. on Friday.  My physio appointment was at 10.30 a.m. the same day but the receptionist and I decided that, as they were only a few streets apart, it shouldn't be a problem getting from one to the other on a tight schedule.  Then, blow me down as they used to say, while Emma was going through my exercises with me on Friday morning another call came from the receptionist....so sorry, Jennifer, he's had to go to hospital (presumably to check up on a patient, not on his own account) so can we change it to this afternoon.  Once again, no problem, in fact it took the pressure off the morning, but that was pretty much a whole day gone for just two appointments.

It's no wonder I seem to run around like a mad thing on some days but achieve very little, is it?  That was the final physio visit unless I feel I need a follow-up - just keep doing the exercises says Emma physio, which I am doing - and although it will still take several months, I should have most of the use of my hand back again.  Most isn't as good as all, but it's better than just some.  It is getting stronger and activities which used to be quite painful aren't so bad now; full strength isn't yet there but I'm sure that, too, will come.

At least that frees up some of my calendar for something other than medical Stuff!

Here's an interesting article for you to read - it's been 100 years since the last mail coach run and a recreation is planned.  However, I take exception with the bloke who said "it was a better way of life".  No, it wasn't.  The "good old days" weren't always good; many children didn't live long enough to celebrate their first birthday, women died in childbirth, domestic violence was something to be suffered in silence.  Medical conditions and accidents which are classed as trivial today could, and did, kill within a short time.  These days life has its challenges, but I wouldn't go back for any amount of money....no matter how glamorous the hats were.

Continuing on with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"Never take a young child to a studio, for it may do much mischief in spite of the most careful watching.  At any rate, the juvenile visitor will try the artist's temper and nerves by keeping him in a constant state of apprehension."

I heartily concur.  Keep those little kiddie-widdies out of my studio, please.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

We are home....the caravan is home....and all is well

For which we are thankful.  

The van had its broken spring fixed in Tooraweenah, for which many grateful thanks to the manager of the caravan park, Scott, and to Paul, a fellow visitor, who was 'volunteered' by Scott to help!  The tyre damaged by the broken spring has also been replaced, and our little van is now once more chugging along happily.

As a bonus - just a few doors along from the mechanic who replaced the tyre, there is a quilt shop!  How good is that!  Another piece of blue fabric came home with me after that stopover, fabric which looks like the night sky; very appropriate as Coonabarabran is an important centre for astronomy.  We also found a coffee shop tucked away at the back of a women's clothing shop, so while we waited for the tyre to be replaced we had a very good coffee and a very yummy chocolate cake (for Kevin) and freshly made that morning Monte Carlo bikky (for me), both of which were delicious.

We had a day to spare in Tooraweenah as the spring was fixed the afternoon we arrived and we had booked ourselves in for two nights, so the following day we did the touristy thing and went for a Nice Sunday Drive (on Wednesday) to visit an emu farm, Emu Logic.  Don't you love their 'welcome to our shop' emu?

Emus are quite large.

Young emus aren't quite as big....you can see the blue skin on the face of this one.

We were told that once the female emu had laid her eggs, she is off and away.  "Bye, Fred, it's been nice, but I have better things to do with my life than raise your chicks....."so the male incubates the eggs and looks after the striped chicks when they hatch.  The females can be quite aggressive to other emus, even to their own chicks.  Talk about women's lib!

A comparison of eggs.  The ostrich egg on the right is the largest, the emu egg next to it is still fairly big.  We were told that it takes 45 minutes to hard-boil one emu egg!

The farm dog, whose name we didn't get.  Anyone who throws her red ball is her New Best Friend, a label now applied to both of us.

I couldn't resist a souvenir of Tooraweenah Caravan Park!  Painted by Janelle, the manager's wife, whose paintings add a lot of fun to walls around the park.  Emus are ripe for caricature, while the background colours remind me of a cloudless summer sunset.

After that extended adventure we now feel that our holiday is finally over, and we can settle back into normality.

Winter has arrived - we didn't quite get the 'warm' welcome home we had expected!  The fire has been alight for a few days and we even had frost yesterday morning, with more forecast in coming days.  

Today is the 13th anniversary of the day we shook the dust of the Big Smoke off our feet and moved into this house.  Although we lived in our previous house for 23 years it is now but a distant memory, and it feels like we have been here forever.  It's been a good move.

Words have been read, notes have been plinked and sung.  Diamonds have been joined, blue and green fabrics have been cut out including some of the new holiday blues shown in the last post.  Stitches have been knitted, and now the placement for the cable pattern on the front of my jumper can be worked out.  That's about it for my week...how about yours?

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Crossing the street with a lady.

If a gentleman is walking with a lady who has his arm, and they cross the street, it is better not to disengage the arm, and go round on the outside.  Such effort evinces a palpable attention to form, and that is always to be avoided."

Of course it is.

Enjoy your days!

And......back home again

These few weeks have flown by!  We had a fun time down south (which would have been better had the weather co-operated, it was either cold or wet or cold again) and it was so good to catch up with family and friends again.  The One And Only Grandkid is shooting up, he's up to my chest now.....we enjoyed the autumn colours, and indulged in a little bit of shopping.  Well, perhaps slightly more than a little bit....here in the Small Smoke our options are limited, so we take the chance to stock up when we can.  We also took in a few exhibitions.

On our way south we stopped off at Sofala, an interesting little town made more so since we learned that Kevin's great-grandmother Eliza was born there back in the gold rush days of 1863.  This is the Turon River, quiet and peaceful now, which would have been a hive of activitity in those days.  You can see where branches have been carried along and left behind as recent high water receded, the Turon River in its steep valley can become a raging torrent when flooded.

We stayed at a caravan park north of Canberra as our regular park is currently closed.  It meant a bit more driving, but was quiet and peaceful with plenty of autumn colour.  This view was just behind our van site late one afternoon.  Don't be fooled by the blue sky.  It was cold.

A stop off at a favourite cafe provided entertainment on a wet day - the sulphur-crested cockatoos and galahs are fun to watch.  We were told these were all juvenile males, a teenage gang.  The galah with its back to the camera took exception to something it heard, flapping its wings and sqwarking.

Not all fallen leaves in autumn are autumn colours.....this plane tree leaf was still bright green.

We had ducks and rabbits regularly visiting our spot, each and every one of them incontinent; there was plenty of 'fertiliser' around.  I had to zoom in to get this shot because bunnies and ducks would disappear if we walked too close to them.

On the way home at a stop - one of many - for roadworks, on the Mid-Western Highway between Cowra and Blayney.

It was so chilly that we probably won't go to Canberra between the end of April and September/October in future.  If we weren't in a caravan - if we were in an insulated bulding - it wouldn't be so bad, but there were times when it was really unpleasant.  Our outdoor chairs and table weren't taken out of the car at all and my ukulele didn't leave its case either; it was just too cold to sit outside and plink away, my usual preference.

Some fabric shopping was indulged in, and some home-made jam shopping, and chocolate shopping (we found a place to have a birthday chocolate lunch, and very yummy it was too), and book shopping.

Now we are home, clothes are unpacked, washing is done, but my shopping is not all unpacked yet.  That's always the worst part of a holiday, isn't it?  Unpacking and putting away Stuff.

Some diamonds were stitched - a pic will be taken - and knitting helped to pass the long journey, the back of my latest jumper/cardy (still not decided but leaning towards a jumper) is done and one sleeve has been started.  It will probably become a TV project this winter, when there is something worth turning on the TV.  Which there frequently isn't, we find.

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"The lady with whom a gentleman dances last is the one he takes to supper.  Therefore he can make no engagement to take out any other, unless his partner is already engaged."

Well, yes.  This is indeed so.

Enjoy your days!

Happy New Year!

We made it - it is now 2021, a new year after a very turbulent time last year.  Honestly, though - the world isn't suddenly going to improve because we flipped over a page on the calendar, is it?  Without even the benefit of a crystal ball I suspect that much of this year will be a repeat of last year.

Oh well.  We can each only do what we can to make our own little corner bearable, can't we?

The last houses of the old year......

......finished on New Year's Eve.  Two more have been cut out and wil be made this week.

We received a Christmas package from our son and his family down in Canberra, and one of the items was a bird feeder woven from grey-washed willow with a metal seed tray inside, and a bag of native bird seed.  

I had to take this from inside the house looking through a window - because you can bet your boots that, as soon as I opened the door to get a better picture, those rainbow lorikeets would have flown straight off.  It hangs in the we-think-it-was-an-apricot-tree which has now well and truly died off, but the birds love perching in the branches so we haven't removed it.  However, when it rains (which it has rather a lot lately) we bring the feeder onto the verandah.  The birds are still welcome to dine but they haven't yet done so, although we do have a few species (not these parrots) which dive and swoop under the roof looking for insects.

Did you all have a good Christmas?  Ours was quiet; we went to lunch at a nice restaurant, the food was excellent, the service let it down a couple of times, but overall it was very enjoyable.

It was followed a couple of days later by lunch with visiting friends at a town an hour away.  We don't miss living in the Big Smoke at all -we've been here over ten years now and wouldn't go back - but we do miss time with friends, so catching up with them is good especially as the folk festival we like attending won't be held until......we don't know when.  Certainly not at Easter, possibly not even later in the year.

I decided years ago not to bother with new year resolutions, and have been very good about sticking with that.  However each year I do have hopes, and this year there are a few hopeful projects to work on.  The handwork on the tumbler quilt is nearly all done so another project will be needed in to take to quilt group, which will mean taking a machine.  'Imprismed', being easy foundation piecing, will fill the bill nicely and I can work on more complex Stuff at home.  I could, of course, add the borders to the tumbler quilt by hand to keep it going......in my dreams......

Kevin's digging into his circus family history has been continuing, and we found about an incident which happened in 1923.  Blayney isn't very big now and was even smaller then when the circus under its owners Charles Perry and William Sole stopped to perform; Charles had just sold it to William who was married to Charles' sister Elizabeth, but had stayed on for a month or two to help.  They had set up in a paddock near the railway, it was 2nd June, early winter, and it was dark.  The electricity plant they used for lighting wasn't working so they brought out an acetylene gas generator.  It didn't work, they couldn't see where the problem was, someone struck a match to provide light......and boom.  Charles and William both died.  We found several newspaper reports of the tragedy, most of which make quite lurid reading.  Both men are buried in a single grave at Blayney cemetery so, if we are able to take our planned trip to Canberra in April as we hope (there's another of those Hopes), we will stop to pay our respects.  Charles and William both left adult children so Elizabeth, with her children and those of her brother, continued to run the circus.

Continuing on from last year:

"Wines at dinner.

If the guests should include one or more people of well-known temperance principles, in deference to the scruples of these guests, wines or liquors should not be brought to the table.  People who entertain should also be cautious as to serving wines at all.  It is impossible to tell what harm you may do to some of your highly esteemed guests.  It may be that your palatable wines may create an appetite for the habitual use of wines or stronger alcoholic liquors; or you may renew a passion long controlled and entombed; or you may turn a wavering will from a seemingly steadfast resolution to forever abstain.  This is an age of reforms, the temperance reform being by no means the least powerful of these, and no ladies or gentlemen will be censured or misunderstood if they neglect to supply their dinner table with wine; it may be on the sideboard, however, and guests may be asked whether they will partake of it."

No such thing as 'Mocktails' in those far-off days, were there?

Enjoy your days!

Days are getting longer

We've had a full month of daylight saving now, and days are starting way too early......for me, anyway.  Never mind.  In just five months we will change back.  I don't mind daylight saving time, I happen to like my mornings to be dark.

A couple more houses are finished.

An autumn house on the left and a summer house on the right, because - of course - flowers dance in the sky in summer.

Some time ago I decided I didn't like how my scarf was turning out, so pulled it undone and started a different pattern.  This is Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, from Ravelry.

It's easy and fun to knit, and I like how the stripes fall.  The darkest colour isn't black, it's deep brown.

Our week has been pretty much the same as the one before it, and the one before that......some tumblers have been sewn, the second large panel is done but not yet photographed as it doesn't look much different to the first.  Once all three are joined there will be photographic proof.  Books have been read, some better than others.

While the world was shut down and we couldn't go anywhere except for food and drugs it was very easy to become lazy and now it's difficult to get un-lazied, but I'm working on it.  Having choir and ukulele group back has helped tremendously, and of course sewing and quilting groups too.

Our lives have changed slightly as we now have a new doctor, who - fortunately - seems quite nice.  The doctor we had both been seeing for several years moved to the Big Smoke earlier this year because his new wife wanted to go.  He was originally from Iran and really liked living in our town, we liked him too, but.....happy wife happy life, I suppose.  The staff at the medical centre told me they miss him.  However on Friday a pleasant young doctor named Genevieve and I bonded over our shared name, because Genevieve and Jennifer are variations on the same name.

I don't like doctors and medical stuff and things like that.  Sadly as one gets older some bits don't work as well as they used to so drugs are called for, and that means a visit every six months.  I just ignore any symptoms until bits fall off, and so far so good.  My mother was one of whom it could be said "she enjoyed ill health" and I vowed I would not be like that.  (When my brothers and I cleaned out her house after she died we filled a large plastic garbage bag three-quarters full of partly used medications; she was a great one for 'doctor shopping'.)  Probably gone a bit far the other way, but that's all right......although I am glad I had that eye surgery, because my new big wide vision is amazing.

The birds have been very entertaining lately.  Young galahs have been practising how to fly - they aren't too bad in the air, but the landings sometimes leave a bit to be desired and we have seen several face plant into the ground.  When I was a child my grandparents had a galah - 'Cocky' - it went to a large aviary in a nearby town after they died; galahs and other cockatoos can live to be over 100 years old, so frequently outlive their owners.

"Retiring from the table.

When the hostess sees that all have finished, she looks at the lady who is sitting beside the host, and the company rise, and withdraw in the order they are seated, without precedence.  After retiring to the drawing-room, the guests should intermingle in a social manner.  It is expected that the guests will remain from one to three hours after dinner."

Of course they will.  Meanwhile, the hostess is probably wondering "when, oh when, will they leave?"

Enjoy your days!

The village is growing

Two houses were made this week.

Bright pink spots - my stash is not entirely lacking in pink - and I don't know what you would call the house on the left, rust, perhaps?  Brick?  It's not quite brown, anyway.  My village will not be Dullsville, and there are a few more cut out ready to be sewn.

It needs a witty name, but that will come in time......probably in a blinding flash of brilliance when least expected.  In the shower, perhaps.

More black and white fabrics have been cut.  A new blade in one's rotary cutter makes a world of difference!  That one does have a name - 'Imprismed', because of the rainbow which will flow through it.

Stitches have been sewn on the tumbler quilt, and the panels are becoming larger; the first of three wide panels is now underway, each panel is eight tumblers wide.  

Blogger has been playing up a little of late - why are we not surprised?  A couple of comments didn't make it into my email inbox, they were dumped into my spam folder which I only check when I remember to, so if you leave a comment and I don't get back to you fairly soon don't worry.  It's in hand.

Our local birds have been active this week.  A male Crested Pigeon has been strutting his stuff to no avail; the object of his affection seems to be muttering "dirty devil" under her breath as she flutters away from him.  Doesn't stop him from pursuing her, though - they are quite funny.  A pair of magpies pop in regularly for some steak, a Grey Butcherbird is aso a regular visitor, a family of Magpie Larks - peewees - tells the larger magpies off, and a Red Wattlebird tells them all off.  Talk about the pecking order......they are very entertaining.

No special outings to report this week, just the usual hunting and gathering.  Quilt group met on Tuesday, choir was on Thursday night - suitably distanced with everyone sitting, as it has been since we resumed - and tomorrow afternoon the remnants of the ukulele group are coming here to play together for the first time in over six months.  If we meet at the golf club (as we did for quite a while) we have to abide by government regulations of sitting, no standing or walking around......most of us prefer to stand while playing......signing in, etc.  By coming here we can be more relaxed and informal.  Our town hasn't had a case of the covid plague since April so we feel confident to go ahead.  Most cases are happening in bigger cities with much larger populations, but everyone has to abide by the same regulations.

The thought of playing music with friends again has me all a-flutter with excitement, I can tell you - notes have even been plinked in preparation!

 "Duties of a hostess and host.

Tact and self-possession are demanded of the hostess, in order that she may perform her duties agreeably, which are not onerous.  She should instruct her servants not to remove her plate until her guests have finished.  If she speaks of any omission by which her servants have inconvenienced her guests, she must do it with dignity, not betraying any undue annoyance.  She must put her guests at their ease, and pay every possible attention to the requirement of each and all around her.  No accident must disturb her; no disappointments embarrass her.  If her precious china and her rare glass are broken before her eyes, she must seem to take but little or no notice of it."

I shall endeavour to be a gracious ukulele hostess tomorrow, but won't be using the precious china or rare glass.

Enjoy your days!

In which we are still mooching along.......

It has been a week of not doing much.  Stitches have been sewn, none have been knitted.  Books have been read.  Notes have been plinked (yay!) and even sung (double yay!).

Stitching down the applique on the Canadian blocks has resumed.  Nunavut is done, New Brunswick isn't far from being done......in that order.  Nunavut had easier shapes for stitching, so it was done first.  

Pictures of these were shown earlier this year and they don't look much different now because the stitching is being done with see-through polyester thread.  If it wasn't, can't you imagine the squillions of thread colour changes?  Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

We'll have some flowers instead, because it's spring.  These are all plants from our garden in the Big Smoke.

Love the new shoots on this bottle brush - Callistemon 'Taree Pink'.  It was an impulse buy as a very small plant from the local hardware shop, which had a small but excellent garden section.  I took it home, found a spot on the north-east corner of the front of the house, planted it - then stood back and watched while it grew.  I have never know a plant which grew so quickly.

A pink bottle brush poking its head in at the side, and creamy white Grevillea 'Moonlight'.

Another grevillea - I think this is 'Robyn Gordon'.

'Taree Pink' again.  If everything we planted grew as well as this did, I would be a happy woman!

The Big Smoke's climate is much more humid with milder winters than here, and these plants loved it.  We did plant a 'Taree Pink' here; it turned up its toes at the first sign of a proper winter.......but perhaps I might try again.

I really like our Aussie native plants.  They don't have the gorgeous autumn colour that trees from other countries do but their new growth in spring is often a glorious bronze, just as spectacular in its own way.  They are often rich in nectar which attracts a lot of birds, and of course watching them makes for great entertainment.

Speaking of birds......a few days ago I heard an odd tapping noise, and couldn't think what it could be.  It happened again yesterday morning, and turned out to be one of our resident peewees, more usually seen flying around looking for insects.  They are often seen pecking at the 'other' bird in a car mirror or window - this one was pecking at the bottom corner of the big floor-to-ceiling window; its beak tapping on the window was the odd noise.

Have I ever told you the details of my etiquette book, bought many years at a library cull for just a dollar or two?  It was originally published in 1885, probably in the U.S. judging by the spelling, with an Australian edition in 1886; mine is a 'facsimile edition' (meaning an exact copy, even down to typeface) published in 1980.  It's full title is "Australian etiquette, or the rules and usages of the best society in the Australasian colonies, together with their sports, pastimes, games and amusements.  Revised, illustrated and compiled expressly as a household treasure for Australian homes."  Several years ago bloggers were signing off with a quote from a book or poem, or sometimes a Bible verse or inspirational saying - I decided on advice from my book.  It was published at a time when some people moving into 'society' for the first time may have been unsure how to behave in social situations, but for all that is not too stiff - its advice is more about courtesy and making others, as well as one's self, feel at ease no matter what the occasion.

"Punctuality.

The hour generally selected in cities is after business hours, or from five to eight o'clock.  In the country or villages it may be an hour or two earlier.  To be punctual at the hour mentioned is obligatory.  If you are too early you are in the way; if too late you annoy the hostess, cause impatience among the assembled guests, and perhaps spoil the dinner.  Fifteen minutes is the longest time required to wait for a tardy guest."

Advice as true today as in 1885, yes?

Enjoy your days!

Today is World Parrot Day

So let's hear it for the parrots!  Polly want a cracker, and all that......

We have parrots here.  We have Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (large noisy white birds with yellow comb on top of head), noisy Little Corellas (you haven't lived until you have been woken at stupid dark very early o'clock by a flock of corellas), my favourite noisy Galahs (pink and grey - "silly galah" is also used as a good-natured insult), sometimes King Parrots.  We also have Rainbow Lorikeets, Eastern Rosellas, and Crimson Rosellas, which are all parrots in my book.

The larger the bird, the louder the noise.  Parrots are noisy, but I like them.

A galah, taken in winter in Canberra at the campground where we stay.

How could I have forgotten the majestic Major Mitchell Cockatoo with its pink, orange and yellow crest?  Perhaps because we don't see them here.

A male King Parrot - the girl is opposite colours, green with a red back and wings.

This week has been uneventful.  Not much has been done.  The scarf being knitted is growing longer - it's an elongated skinny triangle - the tumblers are stitched by hand when my eyes aren't too tired, the tree is slowly being quilted with only the main trunk to go.  Then lots and lots of background, in small pieces, to be quilted.

On Friday I went for my flu shot.  The medical centre had set up a clinic in the foyer which I was unhappy about - there was absolutely no privacy.  I know there was no intimate examination required, but just to be stuck out in full view of everyone passing is not my idea of a 'medical consultation'.  The doctor called my name, the nurse said my age, a woman hanging around for her turn made a remark about "not looking it".  That's not the point.  My age (and everything else about me) is a matter between me and the doctor.  If that is how it's done next year I shall re-think.  Kevin managed to have his flu shot when he visited the doctor for something else, so I know what to do in future.

Besides which, I do not like pointy medical things.  Come to that, I do not enjoy being poked, prodded or pushed in the name of medical science at all.  Here it is Sunday afternoon, and my arm is still sore and tender.

Oh well.  Moving right along.

Read a book I enjoyed recently, and now I can't remember its name.  The word 'family' was in it, that I can tell you; it was downloaded to my tablet, and when I finish a book I delete it so it's gone.  It's by an Australian author, set in Queensland, and the family in question revolves around the mother of three grown men, their partners and children and their interractions with each other.  Mother was a poisonous old witch, for sure, but it had its light moments.

I like books which revolve around family secrets, perhaps because my own family had secrets so it's easy to relate to those stories.

My 1882 etiquette book has a whole chapter devoted to British and European titles.  I haven't delved into that chapter as it is not information I need in my everyday life......but some of you may need it.

"European titles.
Titles in Continental Europe are so common and so frequently unsustained by landed and moneyed interests, that they have not that significance which they hold in England.  A count may be a penniless scamp, depending on the gambling-table for a precarious subsistence, and looking out for the chance of making a wealthy marriage."

There you have it, ladies.....watch out for those 'penniless scamps', they're only after your fortune.

Enjoy your days!

Well, that's April more than half done

This month is going by fairly quickly, considering that not much is happening.  If Kevin's mother was still alive she would be celebrating her 107th birthday today.......that's quite a number, she has been gone for 13 years.

Some quilting was done on the tree hanging, but it's a way from being finished yet.  The leaves haven't stuck very well to the background - perhaps having the fusible ironed on for a couple of years before it was made may have something to do with that?  That'll teach me not to leave it so long again.  The trunk and branches have all been sewn along their edges; after the leaves have been stitched down I'll go back and quilt in some details.  First, however, the leaves need to be fastened firmly so they don't have their own fall and I am left with a bare tree.

Speaking of autumn, it has cooled right down here.  The ceiling vents have now been closed off as we're not going to need the cooling system for several months, windows in seldom used rooms have been closed......we've had the heater on a few times now, and have even started thinking about a fire. 

Some stitches have been knitted on the belle étoile scarf.  The tumblers are tumbling along nicely.  I am trying to keep the number of projects being worked on to a minimum, rather than taking tiny nibbles at a lot of projects and getting nowhere with any of them.

Manitoba is done.

 We haven't been to Manitoba, but we have seen buffalo - bison - we drove past a bison farm in Ontario.  They are quite large beasties.  We've eaten bison sausage too.

Earlier in the week a couple of rainbow lorikeets decided to mooch around in the Eremophila bush for a while.  Trying to photograph mostly-green birds in a green bush against a green background through the back window was a challenge that the camera didn't ~quite~ rise to, but it made a valiant effort.

First time we have seen lorikeets in this bush, although we have sometimes seen Eastern Rosellas.  The flowers have nectar at the base so honeyeaters can stick their pointed beaks in, but rosellas and lorikeets have parrot beaks - which are not pointed.  We have seen rosellas nip off the flowers then chomp on the base for a minute or two before dropping them to the ground......whatever works, I suppose.

We had our usual quiet week, a trip out for our own hunting and gathering, another one to hunt and gather on Bianca's behalf because cats don't drive (she is on an Olde Catte mobility diet which we buy from the vet, it works so well for her that we're tempted to try it ourselves) and a drug run to the pharmacy.  While out on Bianca's trip I called at the quilt store to collect a ruler which I had ordered some time ago, and which will be used when I get to continuing on my autumn leaf quilt.  It's so nice chatting to other people on these outings - at a safe distance, of course - sometimes it feels that we are the only two people left alive.

In recent times an ad has been popping up on TV occasionally for an an insurance company.  We have no idea what is being said (our remote has a 'mute' button for a reason) but the wording on the screen is "we'll keep you covered in hardship".  Now I don't know about you all, but I wouldn't like to be covered in hardship.  I would much rather be covered in flowers, or perhaps antique jewellery......emeralds would be nice......someone was probably paid good money for thinking up that slogan, but I don't think they earned it.

"Satire and ridicule.
Young persons appear ridiculous when satirizing or ridiculing books, people or things.  Opinions to be worth the consideration of others should have the advantage of coming from mature persons.  Cultivated people are not in the habit of resorting to such weapons as satire and ridicule.  They find too much to correct in themselves to indulge in coarse censure of the conduct of others, who may not have had advantages equal to their own."

I will venture to suggest that the person who was paid for that badly-worded slogan was younger than I am.

Enjoy your days!

Is done!

We have new electronic gimcrackery for the fancy-nancy new computer, so now pics can be downloaded from my camera card.

Some finished half square pieces for what is hoped will be a gorgeous quilt.

 Block number one from the Canadian mystery quilt - New Brunswick, with a covered bridge and a black-capped chickadee.  We've seen those little birds in Canada, they are very cute with a sweet call.

Block number two - Nunavut, snow, ice, glaciers, an inukshuk and a ptarmigan, a bird which is white in winter and brown in summer.

These are 'lick and stick' applique using fusible web, the pieces still need to be stitched down.  The cunning plan is to do these quilt-as-you-go, a process I haven't tried before.  Two are done, several more still to go.

Some of our own white birds, a flock of sulphur crested cockatoos on the hill.  As you can see there had been a little rain so there were small patches of green......and now it's green all over, because we have had more rain!  Had to zoom in on these.

 A spectacular sunset last week, rubbish bins, neighbour's car and all, taken from our front verandah.  The faint lights in the far right distance are from the airport.

The best news is, we have had rain and there is more to come!  Not as much as we would like and nowhere near enough to break the continuing drought, but each and every little drop is welcome.  People are feeling more optimistic than they have done for quite a while.

Fires elsewhere in the state are still burning but some are out, and people are coming to terms with what has been lost.  The rest of us are being urged to visit these places and spend-spend-spend to help local economies......but there are still fires burning, and many people aren't inclined to travel for that reason; none of us want to be suddenly evacuated or possibly trapped.  Also, while there is enormous sympathy and both monetary and practical help being given to those communities, a lot of people just don't have extra cash to splash around.  At the end of the day we all get to decide where, when and how we spend our money and no amount of emotional blackmail will change that.

My passport has been renewed.  Merciful heavens......if the person in that picture is really me, then I certainly need and deserve a holiday!

"Use no strong expression either of delight or disapprobation at anything presented for your inspection.  If a picture or a statue please you, show your approval and appreciation by close attention, and a few quiet-well-chosen words, rather than by extravagant praise."

That passport picture certainly elicited no extravagant praise from me, I can tell you.

Enjoy your days!