Halloween trees

They were made on Friday, 31st October, so they are definitely Halloween trees.  Perhaps this one is being blown by the howling wind.

Not too sure what this plant is, but they are definitely flowers of some sort.  The name probably doesn't matter, anyway.

Numbers 89 and 90....so now there are only nine more trees to be made!

An idle thought popped into my head recently concerning a collection of 12 inch Christmas blocks stashed away.  These six are all the same design, and were a win in a BOM draw in my quilt group way back when we lived in the Big Smoke.  The block just peeking in on the far left is mine.  (The green wavy lines belong to the damask tablecloth used as a backdrop for my photos; I have a green one and a blue one, goodness only knows how old they are.  They were my mother's.)

These next blocks were also a win, on a retreat weekend.  From memory we were told to make a star block which could be any design, using Christmas fabrics; they were bundled together in groups of six and a few winners chosen.  These six blocks were my prize, and my block is the green and white on the centre top.

I used only two fabrics, the green and red print and the cream solid background, and the block is called 'Coronation'.  There are a lot of pieces in one 12-inch block, but it was fun to make.

My question is - what shall I do with them?  My original thought was to set all 12 blocks together and use the result as a tablecloth.  As you can see, that was never done.  However, we already have a few Christmas cloths and don't need any more.  Earlier in the week it occurred to me that they could be made into two or three table runners, one for us and the others gifted, but on laying them out I'm not sure that I love them enough to want to do that either.  In Australia we don't need quilts on the bed at Christmas, so they won't ever become a quilt.  

I may just end up giving them away to someone who can use them, rather than having them sit in my cupboard any longer.  Gone gone gone, she says, dusting her hands together with a sigh of relief.

As promised, winter made an unwelcome visit earlier in the week, and the winter woolies were dragged out again to keep us warm.  On the news that night we were told it was "the coldest October day since 2012", but we didn't remember that - because we spent most of October 2012 in Canada!  This was taken on 28th October, the same day as our record-breaking cold here, but 13 years earlier.

When visiting with Rose Marie and her husband we were taken to a pumpkin farm and corn maze, something we don't have here!  A delicious pie was bought, which we ate that evening.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn and knitted.  Songs have been plinked and sung, and rehearsals for our choir's charity concert at the end of this month are coming along nicely.  Appointments have been dealt with too, because various hurty bits of our aging bodies need checking out from time to time.

A highlight on Wednesday was catching up with Janice and her husband who were here for a few days - we girls had a lovely chatty lunch, which was very enjoyable.  The next day our two blokes took themselves off to one of the lawn bowls clubs for a game, where a fun time was had by them too.

"A lady's first refusal.

It is not always necessary to take a lady's first refusal as absolute.  Diffidence or uncertainty as to her own feelings may sometimes influence a lady to reply in the negative, and after consideration cause her to regret that reply."

It is to be hoped that any influence brought to bear on our young lady does not cause her any distress, or make her reply something she does not wish it to be.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A mixed week

Some good things, and some sadness.

Sadness because we had to bid farewell to a good friend, who died recently.  We were unable to get to the funeral but were still able to 'attend' via the wonders of technology.  The world isn't the same without him in it, but we have many memories of sitting with him and his wife over a cuppa and home-made treats (he always enjoyed my fruit slice) here, of meeting them at country pubs for lunch, sharing drinks and dances at folk festivals, and attending concerts together.  

That recipe will be forever known as 'Colin's favourite' in our household from now on.  The recipe is tweaked every time I make it, but it is always good.

One of the good things - the last of my blue and green blocks are done, yay!

Two larger and four smaller......then came the fun of laying them out.  It's difficult to get a good pic when one is short, but a small set of steps helps a bit.  

This may not be the final layout; it will be checked occasionally before starting to sew blocks together so any tweaking as to colour and/or value can be made.  Unlike many quilts it isn't constructed in rows, so a copy has been made for drawing lines on and planning the sewing sequence.  It isn't big - 48 in by 60 in without borders, but that's big enough for a lap quilt if one doesn't have a large lap.  The illustration found online showed borders.  I  would add the link so you can see where it was found, but when I go to click on the link to "quilt for lovers" the computer says "I wouldn't go there if I were you....." so I don't.  However, you may be able to see it here.  If you lashed out at a fabric shop sale and consequently had a roll of 2-1/2 in strips sitting doing nothing, this would be a good way to use it.

Quilting decisions have been made.  I will have a go at quilting it myself using wavy lines going from one side to the other, using as many different blue and green threads as I need.  My first thought was to use one variegated thread.....but which one?  Green?  Blue?  Something in between?  The idea of using a random selection in mixed colours popped into my brain and has stayed there.  The binding may be pieced from different blue and green fabrics too.

Sewing together may not be started this week as there is other Stuff needing my attention.  Next weekend is my annual chance at fame and glory performing in the Eisteddfod, something I have been doing for several years now.  Each year I enter not expecting to win, and so far I have never been disappointed....but, just the same, it is fun.  A run-through of my chosen song a couple of times a day between now and then, and I will be good to go.  I hope.

Stitches have been knitted, my jumper is really coming along quickly considering I only knit in front of TV when there is something I want to watch - a rare occurrence these days.  Words have been read.  Diamonds have been joined but more now need to be cut.

We are now well into freezy frosty chilly season.  Mornings see us waking to a coating of white on anything left outside, while not so far away folk living in frost hollows - yes, frost hollows are a thing - are seeing morning temperatures much colder than us here in our broad valley.  Reading the forecast for later in the coming week makes me think that the Big Green Jumper may have its annual airing.  The winter solstice will happen at some ungodly hour on Thursday morning but I, for one, will not be up and dancing just before 1 a.m. when it does.

Continuing on with Shopping Etiquette:

"It is rude to interrupt friends whom you meet in a shop before they have finished their purchases, or to ask their attention to your own purchases.  It is rude to offer your opinion unasked, upon their judgement or taste, in the selection of goods."

Indeed.  You may think you have better taste than your friend, and perhaps you do, but keep that to yourself unless your friend asks for your opinion - and even then, be tactful.

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!

We have had visitors!

Such a rare thing these days, except for the electricians who recently installed a couple of lights.  These were proper visitors, friends on their way home from visiting family.  It was so good to see them, and to sit and chat for a while, and to enjoy coffee and a nice slice together.  For the non-Aussies, a 'slice' is what you would call sweet bars or squares.  This recipe is very forgiving; so long as you use the correct weight of fruit it doesn't matter what the fruit is, you can even throw in some walnuts or pecans for variety.  This morning's was a mix of sultanas, chopped dates and dried cranberries and is very nice. 

Aren't these gorgeous mugs?  They came all the way from Canada - thank you, Rose Marie!  They are even sitting on Canadian fabric.

We certainly needed that coffee to warm us, this morning was freezy frosty chilly.  It was cooler than towns north of here which are usually much colder than we are!  We even had frost on the front lawn; I don't remember that happening for the past couple of years because there was so little moisture in the air thanks to the drought, but not so this year.  We have already had several frosts on the hill, and winter is a long way from being over.

The mindless feeding through of fabric continues in the sewing room.  More leaves have been made, only two left to go now, and lots of these blocks are done.  This is the start of over 300 required for the design.....all lovely autumn colours.

Once the leaves are done it will be put aside for a while as the blocks on my Canadian quilt are calling my name.  Lots and lots of applique stitching down to be done on those; to make it easy I will use poly thread, otherwise the thread colour changes would give me the heeby jeebies.

Some music notes have been plinked.  Playing by oneself is nowhere near as much fun as playing with others, but it's better than not playing at all, isn't it?  My finger callouses have softened so they need to be worked on to toughen them again.......which means playing more than I have been.

Our world is opening up.  During the height of the plague we had no trouble getting a parking spot right outside our pharmacy, but no longer.  However, we're still keeping cautious for a while yet.

"Do not lack politeness.
Never hesitate in acts of politeness for fear they will not be recognized or returned.  One cannot be too polite so long as he conforms to rules, while it is easy to lack politeness by neglect to them.  Besides, if courtesy is met by neglect or rebuff, it is not for the courteous person to feel mortification, but the boorish one; and so all lookers-on will regard the matter."

Indeed.  It is still possible to be polite while maintaining the required social distance, as we need to currently do.

Enjoy your days!

Rolling along nicely

But - we don't have much choice, do we? 

We have noticed that there is less traffic on our suburban street than usual.  It forms a semi-circle joined at both ends to a minor highway so doesn't get much through traffic, even though there are a few short streets leading off it and for whom the only access is our street.  It's always been a quiet street, and has become even quieter than before.  There is also very little air traffic over us, it's a rare thing to hear a plane!

How are you all coping with your house arrest?  We make one, sometimes two, trips out during the week for hunting and gathering, and one to the pharmacy for a drug run if needed.  It's enough to give us hope that other people are still alive out there, and if we are very lucky we even meet a friend to have a sociable chat.....at a suitable distance, of course.  Apart from those trips, we stay home.

Sewing has happened.  The next block, Quebec, has been stuck down.

Only two to go!  Although it doesn't look like it, those fabrics were pressed first.

There has been a bit of a thing online about making house blocks lately.  Many people seem to be quite taken by this one, which I quite like......but I wanted my houses to have a garden, which would make the blocks longer.  Aha, I thought to myself, I wonder what EQ7 has in the way of house blocks?  So I checked; there are several but I quite like this six inch square block called 'Little house', because it has a garden.  So.....fabrics were chosen, a purple house with an orange roof, a blue spotted sky, yellow window and bright checked door, plus a beautifully manicured lawn.  I can see many more of these in my future.....my Vintage Singer Featherweight (nigh on 70 years old) and I made it outside, in Birdland.

I did make a change to the sky; the original block provided templates to cut two pieces reversed but I thought again to myself, I reckon you could sew diagonally across a 2-1/2 in square of sky fabric for each corner and it would still look good - as well as being easier.  It does, it was, and the roof pitch is now a different angle.

Meanwhile the knitting continues, the tumblers keep tumbling, the tree hanging is not much further along.  When it comes to machine quilting I hesitate because I know my skills aren't very good, but then - if I never practice they never will be, will they.  I would really like to get it done so will have to hoick up my big girl pants (which used to be much smaller......sigh) and Have A Go.

Meanwhile, we spend a lot of time online, not much time watching TV, and are having fun discovering online radio stations which play music that we like.  I also managed to get an arrangement done for the uke group.

Yesterday I really pushed the boat out and made Anzac bikkies.  Some people like theirs thick and chewy, I prefer thin and crispy - which these are, but they are also a bit crumbly.  Because I have some I added 1/2 tspn of pumpkin pie spice, which doesn't hurt the flavour at all.....even though I am sure purists would shudder, but then they don't know what they are missing.

"Pastry should be eaten with a fork.  Everything that can be cut without a knife should be eaten with the fork alone.  Pudding may be eaten with a fork or spoon."

If you would like to try one of my crumbly Anzac bikkies with a fork alone, good luck to you......these are definitely finger food only.

Enjoy your days!

Been and gone and come home again

My life has taken on a life of its own lately.

Had a fun weekend at the folk festival in Dorrigo catching up with old friends, making new ones, playing music, singing, even joining in a big scratch band on stage to open the Sunday morning concert.  Now back to reality......

Dorrigo has a very nice quilt shop.  A little retail therapy may have been indulged in.    Not all for me, you understand.  It doesn't count when it's a gift for someone else.

On the way there and back we stopped at a village pub, as it was lunch o'clock.  Ebor is a small blink-and-you-miss-it place, but the lunches were quite yummy.  Here are a few Ebor trees for you.

 You can see the road which goes through town.

 I like these trees.

 A tall sentinel - these pics were all taken from the pub car park.

It is much greener in Ebor and Dorrigo than it is here.  Dust, dust and more dust is currently the order of our day, and added to that is smoke from fires not too far away.  Air quality is quite bad; we are being warned to limit our time outside, and people who have breathing difficulties are being told not to go outside at all if possible.  Waking up in the morning with a raw throat is not much fun, and singing becomes next to impossible.

Never mind.  This, too, shall pass.

Speaking of retail, have you noticed that many stores don't give bags for our purchases these days?  When one needs to buy undies (as one did yesterday) one must make sure to take a bag (one did), or one may be faced with the prospect of twirling one's new undies around one's index finger while sashaying along the main drag, no doubt to the scandalised gaze of locals.  It's a good thing to use less plastic, but that doesn't really address the problem of the over-packaged items placed in one's take-along bag, does it?

Recently new shoes were added to my less than extensive shoe collection.  I really really don't like shopping for shoes, but these were a necessity; leather lace-up shoes in a light nothing colour called "stone", support for the occasionally broken foot.  I have black shoes but wanted light ones for summer, and I dislike white athletic shoes even more than I dislike shoe shopping, so "stone" it had to be.

Some stitches have been taken.  No fabric has been cut out.  Friends from Canada are arriving on Saturday for a visit, so cutting out is on the back burner for a while while we enjoy their company.

"The feet.
A well-formed foot is broad at the sole, the toes well spread, each separate toe perfect and rounded in form.  The nails are regular and perfect in shape as those of the fingers.  The second toe projects a little beyond the others, and the first, or big toe, stands slightly apart from the rest and is slightly lifted.  The feet, from the circumstance of their being so much confined by boots and shoes, require more care in washing than the rest of the body.  Yet they do not always get this care."

Not a word about a twice-broken foot, you notice.

Enjoy your days!

Green too!

Not all the leaves we saw were traditional autumn colours.....Vancouver Island is very green.

Mossy trees.....

 ......more mossy trees, aren't they interesting shapes?

 Moss on a fallen tree.

 Not a wonderfully fabulous shot of the sign, however it was taken to remind us where we were.

I suspect if you stayed in the forest too long you would grow mossy arms and legs too.

Sadly our trip is receding in our memories as we have been really busy since returning, but we have souvenirs, photos and memories to remind us.

We have been so busy that one decoration, not one bauble, not one strand of tinsel, has been put out to decorate for Christmas!  Oh well, there's always later today or perhaps tomorrow morning.  Probably should make the effort to glitz the place up a bit.

Now my thoughts are turning to the quilt group challenge due at the end of February, to make a quilt for donation to the local Ronald McDonald House out of fabric we were given.  My fabric is random orange spots on white, very bright and cheerful; when we first drew our wrapped fabrics out of the bag I scored a piece with pretty pink flowers and green leaves and bits of blue.  Oh so pretty, and oh so not me.  Margaret sitting next to me drew the orange spots and shuddered......I was shuddering at my draw......so we swapped.  Found this pattern which will do nicely; the diagonals will be made in yellow-gold solid so when the large pieces are sliced and diced it will have gold setting triangles.  I worked it out carefully.  I am such a freakin' genius, am I not?

Meanwhile, the tumbler quilt is coming along nicely.  To start with they are being joined in pairs, one darker (or one lighter, depending on where you stand with such things) than the other.  No colour matching, nothing, just totally random.  Then they will be joined in fours, once again randomly.  Quite a lot was sewn in Canada so that will also be a souvenir when it's finished; even the quilting thread was bought in Toronto.

It's warming up here in the Small Smoke, and I am not enjoying it.  Because we're inland we don't usually have to suffer much humidity, but it's the stormy season which has raised humidity levels.  Last night's storm was a doozy.  When one is at home one sheds layers, but there are limits to what one removes in public when one is no longer young and slender. 

Ah well.  One suffers in silence, or tries to.

All the music gigs are done for the year, the only commitment remaining is a two-hour stint at the historical museum tomorrow afternoon with my 87 year old friend Bonnie who grew up with my aunt in a town a couple of hours north of here.  We always have quite a laugh, even if we are laughing at something we laughed at last time we were on duty together.

"Deference to elderly people.
A young lady should show the same deference to an elderly lady that a gentleman does to a lady.  It may also be said that a young man should show proper deference to elderly gentlemen."

Yes, that sounds like Bonnie and me.

Enjoy your days!

Sleeping in one's own bed again......

One is quite pleased about this; even though the caravan beds have innerspring mattresses and are very comfortable, there is nothing quite like one's own regular bed, is there?

As promised, a few pictorial highlights:

We spent a week near Yamba and did a little local exploring while there, Angourie is a five minute drive south:

These fellers are called water dragons.  Their back claws look quite vicious so I was not getting any closer than this - one of many who call the river bank home:

 The stones deposited along the bank of the Clarence River make an ideal home if you are a water dragon, this is where we stayed for a week......talk about relaxing:

 After a week on Palmers Island we drove south to Urunga, which itself is a short drive from Nambucca Heads - this is near where the Nambucca River empties into the ocean:

 Urunga caravan park has bunnies!!  Cute little grey and white baby bunnies hopping around!!!!

 There were grey and white adult bunnies too, but they can't compete in the cute stakes so they weren't photographed.

The boardwalk goes for a kilometre, should you feel energetic on a late afternoon as the tide is going out to sea......or any other time, for that matter.

It was also a very musical holiday.  I was welcomed by the Yamba Ukes for their regular Wednesday session in a local café and can't have disgraced myself totally, because they asked me to join them playing in a street festival a few days later......how nice is that!

Last weekend at the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival a scratch band called "The Sinners"(sounds like me, doesn't it?) was formed on Saturday morning; an hour on Saturday and another short practice immediately before going on stage on Sunday morning, and we opened the bluegrass gospel concert - yee har for us!  Folk festivals in Australia often have a scratch choir - so-called because people are scratched up from anywhere - which has a short practice each morning of the festival then performs at the final Big Concert (there is always a Big Concert to finish a festival); "The Sinners" was the bluegrass band equivalent.  I'm pleased to report that I wasn't the only ukulele, we had a couple more.  It was somewhat crowded up there on stage, but really great to feel part of the festival.  Now we can sit back and bask in our glory while waiting for the phones to ring......somehow I think we'll be waiting for a while......

Mostly the weather was kind to us, a few showers of rain didn't spoil things but the wind did.  It was often windy at Palmers Island, very windy the day we arrived at Urunga, and we also had some wind at Dorrigo.  Wind is horrible.  As someone said to us after coming home, wind serves no useful purpose that she can see; perhaps it does have a purpose, but it certainly makes people irritable.

Now we are picking up where we left off.  Our next trip away will be just before Christmas heading south to see the family and taking in another small folk festival on the way home.

Meanwhile, things have been progressing on the sewing front.  The backing for my Winding Ways quilt is done but as something has happened to my back (I seem to have popped a rib or strained a muscle, possibly while sneezing; the pain is somewhat agonising at times and breathing can be a bit tricky too) it will have to wait a wee while before being pinned and quilted.

Unfortunately we came home to a sad note, one of our choir members lost his life a couple of weeks ago in a very nasty car accident.  He leaves a young family, and I was sorry I wasn't well enough to get to his funeral on Friday to pay my respects with other choir members.

Yesterday, though, was happier; a former member who moved interstate is back in town for a short holiday, and a mutual friend and choir member had a lovely afternoon tea at her place for friends to meet up again.  We had yummy things to eat served on pretty plates, with old-fashioned tea cups making us all feel like Real Ladies.  Which, of course, we are.

"Whom to invite.
Those invited should be of the same standing in society.  They need not necessarily be friends, nor even acquaintances, but, at dinner, as people come into closer contact than at a dance, or any other kind of a party, those only should be invited to meet one another who move in the same class of circles."

Yep......sounds like yesterday afternoon.

Enjoy your days!

We're having a heatwave.....

.......a tropical heatwave,
It isn't surprising the temperature's rising,
She certainly can.....can can!

Remember that song?

We are indeed having a heatwave, although it's not tropical.  For over a week now it's been very hot with the occasional day of 40 deg C, that's over 100F in old numbers, and more to come in the next week or so.  Bush fires have burnt many properties in different states, although, touch wood, so far no lives have been lost.  But people have lost their homes, businesses, all their possessions, schools have gone; while it's not as catastrophic as the fires of a few years ago it's not over yet.  Coastal towns which usually have milder temperatures than we get have been hot - some even hotter than us.

These are some of the bags which came home from Canada with me.  Isn't this a fun bag?  The pattern and fabric were a gift from Rose Marie when we stayed with her.

The fabric is Stonehenge by Northcott, both the prints and the black tone-on-tone, and is beautiful fabric to work with.  The pattern didn't use lining, but I added one - the base is quite sturdy so I felt the sides needed more than one layer of fabric.

This is a bag from my friend Lois who doesn't have a blog, it's a Canadian postcard print - I would love to visit all the places in the pictures!  It's a good-sized bag, both ends fold in and are closed with studs; when the studs are open it holds a lot of shopping.  Or knitting.  Or fabric.......Lois and I had a great time at a quilt shop, you know.  I could have come home with much more fabric than I did........and I feel very lucky to have such generous friends.

 Last but definitely not least a small bag won on Bev's blog which contained some sewing goodies - spotted white fabric, thread in a very useful colour, a tape measure and a packet of emery nail files.  Rough fingernail edges can catch on fabric edges, so emery files are very handy.  The bag lining fabric is a black on white print of vintage sewing machines, and yes, the zipper on the bag is indeed purple.  Bev and I were hoping to get to meet while we were in Toronto, but sadly it was not able to happen.

Last week I mentioned to my doctor that I was having trouble with a very sore ankle which didn't want to work properly, probably because I hurt my right foot while in Canada - it's difficult to walk when every step hurts, which it did for several weeks, indeed the foot and ankle are still swollen a couple of months later - she suggested having an X-ray to see what happened in there, and guess what she told me today......my foot had indeed been broken.  The second little toe broke, and the rest of the foot was bruised and injured.  But being a tough Aussie I just continued walking on it.....walked round Butchart Gardens and goodness knows where else......I drew the line at climbing up Mount Doug in Victoria, B.C. even though the view was glorious, because that did hurt.

While at the doctor today we saw a sight that is still burned on my eyelids.  Picture, if you will, a somewhat-less-than-slender middle aged woman wearing a summer dress, floor length as are many of the current styles, the top being two triangles joined onto the waistband.....not all the sagging flesh was contained, if you get my meaning......front, back and sides.......it was not pretty.  Unfortunately the current hot weather has brought out the worst in some people's clothing taste.  While at home I do admit to wearing very casual clothing, but out in public - no.

The new pjs are progressing nicely considering that the broken foot is the pedal foot, so the sewing is being done in short bursts rather than long marathons.  Next project will be a kid's charity quilt, the blocks for which which have been sitting in my sewing room for over a year - then fabrics will be gathered for one of my Canadian patterns.  There are some batiks in my stash which are calling my name......

My own radio program is getting closer, there have been a couple of training sessions with more to come.  Once I get the hang of which button to press, and when, and some other details to remember, I might be ready.

"Dress for morning calls.
Morning calls may be made either in walking or carriage dress, provided the latter is justified by the presence of the carriage,  The dress should be silk; collar and cuffs of the finest lace; light gloves; a full dress bonnet and jewellery of gold, either dead, burnished or enamelled, or of cameo or coral.  Diamonds are not usually worn in daylight.  A dress of black or neutral tint, in which light colours are introduced only in small quantities, is the most appropriate for a morning call."

Well.....this morning's woman did wear (but only just) a dress of black and white, while small quantities of light colours were introduced by way of the tattoo on her back.  And it was morning, even though a visit to the doctor is not considered a social call.  However, as she wore no bonnet or gloves, or collar and cuffs, her dress probably would not be considered appropriate.

Enjoy your days!