Well, that's February half done

Seems like the year is racing by, and Christmas will be upon us again before we know it.

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday, so off we went for a Nice Sunday Drive - yes, I know it was Saturday, but one can go for a Nice Sunday Drive on any day of the week - to a small town in the hills to the south-east.  Nundle is nearly an hour away; the road is not a multi-lane freeway by any stretch of the imagination, but is a really nice drive through the hills.  The pub has a reputation for being a place for a good feed, and it certainly didn't disappoint, my trout (from a local business) was delicious.  It's a place I have always enjoyed visiting as my family's history is tied up in the area, my maternal grandfather was born not far away, and his birth and the births of several of his siblings were all registered at the Nundle courthouse, a handsome building dating from 1880 which is now a museum.

Which is why the binding on my Canadian table topper isn't yet finished, as there wasn't much of yesterday left by the time we arrived home and I seldom use the machine at night.  Tired eyes, tired brain and machinery make for unhappy results, as I have found out in the past.

As you can see it has been cut, the strips joined and sewn to the topper, but the binding ends need to be joined then turned to the back and sewn down.  This red leafy fabric was in my stash - isn't it delicious?  As it has maple leaves and is red, it seemed just the Very Thing for the binding.

Over the past few days we have been planning our annual March trip down south.  We will be joining with our son to celebrate his 50th birthday - how can I have a 50 year old kid when I am only 29 and some months, I wonder? - and before that our 50th anniversary, which falls a few days earlier.  It didn't matter at the time, and 50 years later it matters even less, although my MIL was a bit shocked and scandalised that her only son would take up with a not-yet-divorced woman.  We are planning a few days in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, basing ourselves in Tumut and using it as a base to do some exploring.  Then it will be off to Canberra for ten days, before heading off home.  We will be away for three weeks, and are looking forward to it.  We have stayed overnight in Tumut a couple of times, nigh on 30 years ago, and remember it as a very pretty town.

At least I was legally divorced when we married, unlike my grandmother who married my grandfather before her decree was absolute, making their marriage bigamous.....and my mother and her brother illegitimate.  My mother would have been mortified to the ends of the earth, had she known.  I enjoy watching genealogy programs, the scandals are often more interesting than boring everyday living, aren't they?

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn but not knitted.  Notes have, once more, been plinked and sung.  Appointments have been kept.  Hunting, gathering and foraging have been on the menu, and so passed another week.

Some rain would be nice....this weekend's forecast was for good rain, but not a drop has fallen from the sky.  Not a dribble, not a drip.  Oh well, no doubt rain will come when it comes.

"Position of an engaged man.

The same rules may be laid down in regard to the other party to the contract.  Neither should assume a masterful or jealous attitude toward the other.  They are neither of them to be shut up away from the rest of the world, but must mingle in society nearly the same as before, and take the same delight in friendship.  The fact that they have confessed their love for each other ought to be deemed a sufficient guarantee of faithfulness; for the rest let there be trust and confidence."

Very sensible words.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Things which grow on trees

This week's trees has some...interesting...things growing on, or in, them.

Does this remind you of fireworks - or 'crackers', as we used to call them?  Because it certainly reminds me of those bursts of colour when they explode in the sky and everyone looks up and says "....aaaahhhh....."

Or perhaps they are spiky plant seeds which catch in clothing and irritate one's skin.  Nasty things they are, too.

On second thoughts, I prefer fireworks.

Some large flowers growing in this tree.  The bright lemon/lime at the top appeals to me, it certainly contrasts with the rest of the fabrics.

They look quite good together, but I prefer the fireworks tree.

Back in my childhood we used to have an annual "cracker night"; we would save our pennies and buy ourselves some crackers which we would light - under parental supervision, of course.  In those far-off days 'Empire Day' was celebrated on 24th May, Queen Victoria's birthday, and we had a half-day off from school.  Since then the sale of crackers for home consumption has been banned, the half-holiday is no more, and we're apparently all about the Commonwealth rather than the Empire.

How has everyone been this week?  We have drifted along on our merry way; a visit to the hairdresser on Monday for me....there are few things worse than having to look at one's reflection for what seems like far too long, in my book.  A mirrorless trim would be ideal.  Still, it won't need trimming again for several months, so that's something, I suppose.  My hair was long for many years and I still miss it - mainly because it meant fewer meetings with that dreaded mirror.  It's shorter now because the eye surgery of a few years ago - good heavens, it will be five years in August - means that my vision is now so big and broad that my eyes need protection from the sun making a hat necessary, and shorter hair is easier for wearing a hat.

Words were read.  Stitches were sewn, and more diamonds to add to the travelling stash were cut.  Songs were plinked and sung, choir is still in recess but the ukulele group warbles along.  We hunted and we gathered, and that was about it.  No more nibbles from anyone interested in buying our caravan, but we are forever hopeful.

Next weekend looks like being a bit busy:  a trip for a quilt show an hour north on Saturday, and a visit to the theatre on Sunday to attend the play written and directed by our choir leader.  The following week will be short as we head off for our trip south on Thursday 20th March, and a day before that we will take ourselves out for a (hopefully) nice lunch to celebrate our 49th anniversary. 

Best of all, it is starting to lightly rain!  Our forecast indicates that we should get more worthwhile rain in the next two days that we have had for several months.  The tropical cyclone which was hanging around before being downgraded is responsible for that, even though we are further inland and further south from the main areas of rain and damage.  I, for one, would not have liked to have been in one of those high (very high) rise buildings when the storm was raging, I reckon it would have been swaying enough to cause sea sickness.

We have now moved on from travel in railway carriages, tram cars and steamers.

"Riding and driving.

One of the most exhilarating and enjoyable amusements that can be indulged in by either ladies or gentlemen is that of riding on horseback, and it is participated to a very great extent in Australia.  The etiquette of riding, though meagre, is exact and important."

Well, yes - it probably is. Don't want to frighten the horse by inexact etiquette, do we?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Sixteen years ago......

Way back in early 2006 we were planning a trip overseas - a cruise, no less!  Our older son was working on board a cruise ship playing in the orchestra so we booked ourselves a flight to Vancouver, did some tootling around Vancouver then Victoria on Vancouver Island, cruised for seven days to Alaska on our son's ship, then spent a few more days in Alaska going as far north as Fairbanks before eventually flying home.  It was a very busy three weeks.

Because all those flights entailed much sitting and waiting I decided to do something I hadn't done before - piece quilt blocks by hand.  A six inch flower basket block was decided on and a few blocks cut from floral and white-on-white fabrics; these were first taken to Canberra for our annual Easter trip, and some stitches were actually sewn.  The original plan was to make 169 blocks to be set 13 rows across by 13 rows down....good heavens, I said to myself, that's a lot of sewing.  However I kept plodding away and after a few years was enjoying the process so much that I thought to make the quilt bigger, so ended up making 225 blocks.  There are fabrics from several trips to Canada, as well as that Alaskan trip, in it.

Once all the blocks were made several years ago they were joined nine at a time, three rows by three.  The original Cunning Plan was to do them quilt-as-you-go then join those blocks to make a quilt but I couldn't decide which quilting design to use, so they sat....and they sat.....and they sat some more until last year when the hand-piecing on my tumbler quilt was finished, and I thought "blow it - I'll finish the flower basket top and have it quilted".

On Friday night the last stitch was taken on the top - and it's done, sixteen years after it was first a bright idea in my brain!  I'll try to get a photo but it is so big that may be hard to do, so here are some progress pics.

The last block was made and photographed on 20th August, 2014.

One of the 25 blocks of nine; white and floral backgrounds were alternated.

This was taken just six months after the first stitches were taken, when enough blocks had been made to cover the top of our dining table.

There won't be a border, it's already large enough....90 inches square, 4,500 individual pieces.  It will, of course, shrink when quilted.

You probably heard my sigh of relief and achievement on Friday night from your house, wherever you are.

We will be going away on Tuesday so my knitting will come along, as will the diamonds which were recently cut for hand-piecing.  And some books to read, and a book of crossword puzzles - Kevin likes Sudoku, I prefer crosswords - our little caravan doesn't have TV.  When we come home, quilting on the border of my Canadian quilt will be done....it's time it was finished, and there are other machine projects to fill in the rest of this year and probably the next year as well.  And to start off the following year after that.....

Last night's concert went very well, it was so good to sing to an audience again!  The choir songs were well received as were the ukulele group songs, and my solo was much applauded; while I was packing up my uke a man from the audience came to compliment me and to say how much he enjoyed my song, which I thought was really nice of him.  I sang a parody - in French, no less! - of words which have crept into English, to the tune of 'La vie en rose'.  Other audience members also complimented me as we were leaving, saying how much they enjoyed my funny song.

Of course my uke will go away in the caravan too.  As will warm clothes, because Canberra's forecast is for some fairly cool weather.  My birthday will be a few days after we arrive and I had decided that Kevin could take me out for chocolate lunch.  At a chocolate shop/café.  Which we have now found out is closed, yet another victim of business downturn due to the covid plague.

Sigh.....

"General rules for balls.

A young man who can dance, and will not dance, should stay away from a ball."

Indeed.  The whole point of going to a ball is to socialise and to dance, so if you will not dance there is no point in going, is there?

We'll be back at the end of May.  Until then.....

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

It's now the middle of April!

We're back, as you can see!  We had a good holiday; the Canberra family is well and happy, Young Euan is growing like you wouldn't believe and leading his parents a merry dance while his grandparents sit back and chuckle remembering the days when his parents did similar things,  the folk festival was fun (although it would have been much more funner had I not succumbed to a bad dose of hay fever), no new instruments came home with me although I had a play of a beautiful small-body guitar which I still covet enormously, and the chocolate shops in Canberra still have some stock left.

The weather was surprisingly hot, dry and sunny.....a bit too hot and sunny for comfort most days.....Easter in Canberra is supposed to be autumn colours, mild days and cool nights.  Not so, this year.  Don't be fooled by the greens in the picture below, everywhere else was very dry.

 More like these two pics show.

 We discovered the new-to-us lookout at Red Hill last year and were most impressed!  This year we had lunch at the cafe overlooking Canberra, and a very nice lunch it was too.

Some brave locals were traipsing up and down the somewhat steep hill for their daily constitutional.  Hardy folk, those Canberrans.

We also went to the jewellery exhibition.....well, what can I say......those trinkets were mostly very gorgeous although there were some I didn't care for, the tutti frutti pieces among them.  There is just too much going on in those pieces.  I have never cared much for diamonds but after seeing some - not all, mind you! - of the diamond pieces on display I can see the attraction of a wall of shimmer on one's bosom or head; every time one moved one would sparkle and dazzle.  My favourite - even though it's not green! - is this pretty little tiara; compared to some of the jewellery on display it was fairly modest, but was quite sweet and I loved it.  Just the same, the green baubles were all rather lovely and I could have brought any of them home with me.

But I didn't.  Law abiding Jennifer, that's me.

Now we are back home and settling in the next Big Trip will be to Canada in early October......and the months won't take long to fly by, if the last few are an indication.  However, the Canadian government has now decided that Aussies travelling to Canada have to fill out and lodge a visa waiver form thingy which we have duly successfully done, but imagine our surprise when we found out, upon completion, that each form is costing us $127!!  Geez!!  That's $254 less to spend on maple syrup and fabric, you know......never had to do that in the past and we have visited Canada five times......sorry Canada, I love youse all but that's a bit rude......

Oh well.  If we want to see our boy we have no choice, and it's already paid.

My quilt is waiting to be bound, it is quilted with a design of oak leaves which suit the autumn colours.  The binding is made and pressed, still need to design a label but that will be done soon.  Something with an oak leaf or two, perhaps.  Then, hopefully before you know it, the whole thing will be all finished, done and completed!  Yay!

"Cleansing gold jewellery.
Gold ornaments may be kept bright and clean with soap and warm water, scrubbing them well with a soft nail-brush.  They may be dried in sawdust of boxwood.  Imitation jewellery may be treated in the same way."

I wonder if that method would be used on a diamond tiara?  And I wonder if one can buy sawdust of only one particular species?

Enjoy your days!

We'll be back in the new year!

Day after tomorrow, Saturday, we will be hitching up our little caravan, climbing into our car and heading south to celebrate a birthday, Christmas, and a new year, so you won't hear from me for a few weeks.

Life here at Chez Wombats has been drifting along.  My Winding Ways quilt is nearly done, yay!   A large amount of bias binding was made and machined onto the front, and is now being hand-sewn down on the back - right now it is three-quarters done.  Once that is finished it will be immortalised in a photograph for the world to admire.......after such a long time it's good to be so close to finishing; the first blocks were made in a class late in 2007.

Some hand-sewing will be packed to take along, and a book of crosswords, and of course a ukulele (that goes without saying), and my tablet loaded with who-dun-it mysteries.  We don't have TV  in our little van, the space it would use is taken by a microwave which, in my opinion, is far more useful, and if we get bored we can always watch our dinner go round and round......and round......a radio/CD player is our entertainment, we can usually pick up a local station somewhere.

There are always new acquaintances to be made in camp grounds, if we hit it off that's good......and if we don't, we can always console ourselves by remembering that it will be a brief acquaintance.

In recent times I have read biographies of two women, one born in England who lived a lot of her life in Australia, another who was born in Australia but lived for a while in England.  "The amazing Mrs Livesey" was about young Ethel Livesey, born in England in 1897, who married as a teenager and had a child to her first husband who was reported killed in World War I.  Her parents took the newborn boy to give her a chance to mourn and gather her thoughts, whereupon she packed her bags and took off for pastures greener and 'Husband' No. 2 - to whom she wasn't legally married, but that didn't stop her claiming his army money.  Forty (forty!) aliases later, eight husbands (many married bigamously), four children, living in several countries, young Ethel was never one to let the grass grow under her feet.  Although the book ends with her death there is even a question about that, because no one knows what name she was using at the time.  Ethel learned as a young woman to always speak well and to dress well, both skills which helped her along her merry way of scamming people......because who would ever believe that such a well-dressed and well-spoken woman could be a confidence trickster?

The second book is "Rosetta", written by Rosetta's great-granddaughter.  Rosetta caused a great scandal in 1905 when she left her prosperous businessman husband and young daughter to run away with a fortune teller......and not only was he a fortune teller, he was half-Chinese, someone who would have been well out of the social circles in which women like Rosetta moved.  They moved to Europe and numbered among friends many of the nobility and even royalty, quite a step upwards fro their earlier life in Melbourne!  The author has woven truth and possible truth together to tell Rosetta's story; much of it is documented in reports of the time, and some from her imagination.  From the day Rosetta left until she died she and her daughter never met again, although it turns out they lived not far apart.

We tend to think of ancestors and people of earlier times as living dull lives, but obviously that wasn't always the case!

"Manners and personal appearance.
A charming manner not only enhances personal beauty, but even hides ugliness and makes plainness agreeable.  An ill-favored countenance is not necessarily a stumbling-block, at the outset, to its owner, which cannot be surmounted, for who does not know how much a happy manner often does to neutralize the ill effects of forbidding looks?"

Obviously Mrs Livesey and Rosetta were both possessed of charm.......it certainly lubricated their way through life.

Until we meet again - no matter where you live or what you celebrate, best wishes for a season filled with peace and love.

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!

Autumn is finally here!

Everyone locally is very pleased, although those who don't like winter are probably dreading the coming months......but anything will be better than the heat we endured over summer.  We seem to have arrived home at the right time!

We had a good time in Canberra and the family is all well, Young Euan is growing and is now walking, he wanders around talking to himself non-stop......no one can understand a word he is saying but that doesn't bother him, he just keeps chattering away.  The folk festival was excellent, and - as usual - quite a lot of time was spent catching up with people rather than attending concerts.  Many notes were played and sung, and just think - we can do it again in late October, just a few hours north of here.

After the festival and some family time we packed up the caravan, the two ukes, the car and ourselves, and headed south to Victoria.  The first night was spent in Lockhart camp ground, where sunset over neighbouring farmlands was very peaceful.

Next day we crossed the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

 We headed for south-western Victoria, based in Hamilton.  One day we drove to Port Fairy where I was surprised to see a White-faced Heron - I didn't know we had herons in Australia!  It was standing so still that we nearly missed seeing it.

 Lunch that day was fish and chips while overlooking the Southern Ocean......next landfall to the south is Antarctica.

 Another day we drove to the southern end of The Grampians, we had been to the northern end several years ago.  It is wonderfully rugged country!

 Heading north again we stayed in Echuca for a few days, and treated ourselves to a lunch cruise on the Murray River.......our table can be seen, second from the right.  We expected it would be a bit rough and ready but no, it was gourmet and very deliciously complimented with local wines.

 Heading north again for an overnight stop at Narrandera, overlooking the lake.

 Many countries have white swans, but black swans are native to Australia!

 A couple of nights at Parkes included a visit to the radio telescope, "The Dish".

While we were sitting in their cafe having our lunch the dish was moving, it's quite an awesome sight to see.

Since arriving home we have been busy with appointments, and volunteering jobs (me), and having our flu shots because the sneezin' season is approaching, and shopping, and washing, and cleaning, and.....and......earlier this afternoon I finally made it into my sewing room to cut fabric, but so far not one note has been plinked on uke or guitar.

"Avoid talking too much, and do not inflict upon your hearers interminably long stories, in which they can have but little interest."

Hopefully that has been the case!  Letting the pictures speak for me will hopefully show some of the highlights of our holiday, instead of words droning on and on.

Enjoy your days!

It's enough to turn you off people

It has happened again.  Our house sitter has cancelled on us.  She rang on Friday morning to say she has a job interview on Tuesday in a large city a few hours south of here and if she was offered the job it would be a great opportunity for her, etc., will it cause you much inconvenience etc.  I replied "yes, it will......it leaves us in quite a hole".  I don't think she wanted to hear that, but I don't care - it's true.  I am fed up with people.  This is the third sitter to cancel on us in barely two years so I don't think we will bother using the system again.  We have had some lovely house sitters, one dud (the last one), but three cancellations is just too many.

Kevin was all for cutting our holiday short but I said no.  I have been looking forward to visiting Victoria again for a long time, we have made tentative plans and cancelled them before, and this time I want to go through with it.  We are going.

We ran round chasing our tails on Friday to organise what needs to be done.  Fortunately Bianca has been booked into Deb's cattery, she has been before - we were so very lucky that Deb had a vacancy for the time we need.  It's money we hadn't planned on spending, but it won't break the bank.  We also have a gardener popping in a couple of times a week to check on our garden, especially the newly planted section - poor plants, they are really struggling in the current hot dry weather - more money.  Our neighbours are lovely people but they have their own homes, families and gardens to look after, we don't want to put a burden on them, and anyway the young couple in No 70 have a new baby due to hatch any day now......it's already a week overdue!  Luckily a 'hold mail' form had already been lodged with the post office so we don't have to worry about that.

So on Wednesday morning we will hitch up our little caravan, hop in the car and take off.

That's Kevin enjoying doing nothing behind our little van.  It's just the right size - 12 feet long - for the two of us, some clothes and food......and two ukes.  Yes, they're both coming with me!

Who needs a huge behemoth to tow when you can have compact and cosy, and cheap?  We're sure the owners of bigger vans look at ours and laugh, but then we drive past them filling up with enormous amounts of expensive fuel and we laugh ourselves silly.  Nearly every time we take the van somewhere we are approached by at least one person asking if we want to sell, and our answer is always no.

We'll be driving to Canberra  first, spending our time volunteering before and during the folk festival,  enjoying lots of great music (and of course, for me, playing and singing) catching up with family before and after the festival, and on Monday April 4 taking off again to drive south to Victoria.  We plan to arrive back here on Tuesday April 19 so this blog will be silent for the duration, but there will hopefully be lots to tell you all about on our return.

My hand is much better, neither it nor my arm have fallen off, so that will something we don't have to worry about while we're away.  The burn on my elbow is healing too, just as well......burns are rather unsightly.  It won't stop me enjoying the festival!

"Keeping step.
In walking together, especially when arm in arm, it is desirable that the two keep step.  Ladies should be particular to adapt their pace, as far as practicable, to that of their escort.  It is easily done."

Every year at the festival we spend a lot of time catching up with friends not seen since the last such event, and it does entail some walking......and much talking and passing-on of news, so it's essential to keep pace.

Enjoy your days!

One-twelfth of the year has gone, you know......

.....never to return......not this year, anyway.

We had a busy hot January , first the trip to Canberra to see the family (who are all well.....Euan is now crawling and we suspect he will be a late walker like his father was) and to see a wonderful exhibition of works by Tom Roberts, one of the best shows I have ever seen.  Paintings that many Australians know well, such as his paintings of sheep shearers, were hanging - they were painted just a couple of hours north of here.  'Bailed up' was also hanging in the exhibition and if I could have snuck out of the exhibition with just one painting under my arm, that would be the one.  It's so evocative of the Australian bush in summer that it took my breath away.

There was a 'play room' attached to the exhibition where one could dress like some of the women in Roberts' paintings to take a selfie (something I have never done in my life and don't intend to start doing now) but I tried on the hats anyway......oh my......one flash number from Edwardian times in black with a wide veiled brim and a red feather was very oooh-la-la, I liked it, then I tried on a smaller-brimmed black bonnet......well......not so good, I looked like a Salvation Army lassie of old, and the white wide-brimmed hat also did nothing for me.  White has never been my best colour.  But it was fun, it's been a long time since I played dress-ups.

From which you can tell that, although seeing the family was good, that exhibition was the highlight of my trip away.  Sorry, family.  That's how it was.  Especially after being told by our son and his wife and child, as we handed over Christmas gifts for all and a birthday present for Euan "sorry, we didn't get around to getting you a Christmas present".  I con't care about the lack of a present.  I do care that you couldn't be bothered to find five minutes in your oh-so-busy lives to at least make the gesture.

Anyway.  Moving right along.

Yesterday the last stitches were taken on a project bought last year in Canada!

 A couple of days before we left to fly home the friends with whom we were staying on Vancouver Island took us for a drive from Victoria 'up island' to Courtenay.  The weather which had been so nice the day before turned cold, windy and rainy and, each time we stopped (there are several quilt shops along that drive, you know, and my friend is a quilter too) we dashed very quickly from the car into the warmth of the store.  The husbands had more sense - they waited in the car!  We had a lovely evening with our friends' friends, and next day drove back to Victoria in slightly better weather.

One place we visited on the way back was Parksville, and in Sweet Pea Quilting I saw the kit for this table topper.  The dark colours of the fabrics reminded me of our drive the day before with dark waves crashing on the shore and boats rocking at their moorings, so it came home with me.  Pattern is 'The Centrepiece Tablemat' by Sweet Treasures.

These pics were taken on the way home......waves were still churning and the wind was still cold, although not as fierce as on the previous day.

 As you can see, there wasn't much sun that day either!

I'm glad I wasn't out on the water in a boat on either day.  We left Swartz Bay on the ferry for Tsawassen the following day and had a good crossing......but the day after that, the weather turned so nasty that all B.C. Ferries were cancelled, including the one we would have taken had we stayed one more day!  That was our trip back to the airport to fly home so, while I'm sorry we couldn't have stayed longer, I'm glad our travel plans weren't disrupted.

It's good to make a more complex and/or larger project, but sometimes a smaller one with some mindless sewing and not much brain power required is Just The Very Thing for hot weather when the heat fries one's brain, and it has been hot......so one's brain is well and truly fried.

We have survived another country music festival.  The whole town is taken over for much of January by country music fans and it is fun, but it's also good to be able to just go inside and shut the door on it all.  We had friends staying this year, a woman connected with one of the 'fringe' events and her teenage daughter; their billets were supposedly already arranged by someone, but the bottom fell out of those plans and we offered them beds here.  It was very nice to have them and we have made the offer for next year too.  My friend and I had a little music session one day, she played my baritone uke (she plays guitar and banjo) while I played my tenor uke......well......I have never heard the two ukes played together before and it was magical.  They were made by the luthier out of the same woods, and they blend beautifully.  If there was a way to play both ukes at once I would do it.

"True hospitality.
Try to make your guests feel at home; and do this, not by urging them in empty words to do so, but by making their stay as pleasant as possible, at the same time being careful to put out of sight any trifling trouble or inconvenience they may cause you."

I hope - in fact, I'm sure - that our friend and her daughter enjoyed their stay here, and it was no trouble or inconvenience to have them; quite the contrary, it was a delight.

Enjoy your days!

In which we are feeling very stressed

A few days ago our house sitter, who was booked in early May, told us she was unable to sit for us due to a death in her family and associated dramas.  While I am sorry for her, she had already known for six weeks - six weeks! - when she finally deigned to inform us, and then only in reply to an email from us about the garden.  If we hadn't written to her first we are wondering when we would have been told......the day before she was due to arrive, perhaps?  Because of the late notice we hold out no hopes at all of getting a house sitter, so Bianca has been booked into Deb's cat holiday shack (she has holidayed at Deb's before and has coped well) and we are arranging for someone to mow the lawn and tidy up the garden.  Nearly eight weeks is a long time to leave the house unoccupied.

This has taken some of the pleasure out of our holiday, let me tell you.  We aren't fabulously wealthy and our home is our greatest asset, so we would like it to still be here when we return.  Added to that is the expense of Bianca's being boarded and garden maintenance (all of which would have been done by our sitter for free) and our holiday has just become a little more expensive.  Yesterday we were told about a local woman who house sits, we contacted her and she told us that she charges $35 a day - that's nearly three times what it will cost for Bianca's holiday!  Needless to say, we declined.

Is it any wonder I am feeling somewhat stressed?

Perhaps I should just take some of those amazing tablets the doctor prescribed for the flight, and just sleep away the time until we leave......they work really well, as I found out earlier in the week......

On a much happier note, last week my new jumper was finished.

In real life it's a little less blue and a little more purple than this.  Yarn is 100% alpaca from Bendigo Woollen Mills, bought many many years ago on our so far one-and-only trip to Bendigo, and is equivalent to Aussie 8 ply or DK.  Pattern is from an old Patons Classics book, a raglan sleeved jumper with a diagonal rib stitch on the bottom, neckband and cuffs instead of the plain K1 P1 rib as in the pattern.  Alpaca is reputed to be very warm, so that should keep me cosy should it be cold in Canada.

Only 16 days to go........it's been so busy lately that my ukes and guitar have barely been touched.....only one more lesson and the current term will be done, I won't be back until a few weeks before the end of the lesson year.

Recently we went to the movies to see a documentary, "The Women He's Undressed" - sounds quite salacious, doesn't it? - but it wasn't.  It was about a Hollywood costume designer whose career spanned over three decades, Orry-Kelly, and who was born in the small Aussie seaside town of Kiama, something not widely known until recently.  Non-movie buffs would enjoy it, and anyone interested in sewing, costume design, or history of fashion will find it fascinating.  Apparently dressing Bette Davis' bosom was quite difficult.....poor Bette!

This morning our local historical society held its Spring Fair, and a lovely early spring day it was too.  Lady members were dressed in long black skirts and old-fashioned white blouses, topped with white aprons......all quite Edwardian.  I was selling ice creams for a couple of hours, they were very popular!  Came home with a few books, one of which may accompany me on the plane.  I have a tablet with a Kindle app for reading but I'm a quick reader and would read so much that the battery would die long before the flight ended, so I thought a paper book (actually, two books in one) may be a better choice.

"A home.
After marriage one of the first requirements for happiness is a home.  It will best be found in a house or even a cottage apart from the immediate association of relatives or friends, acquaintances or strangers, and here husband and wife may begin in reality that new life of which they have had fond dreams, and upon their own actions must depend their future welfare."

Home is a very important place for any of us, and we hope ours is still standing when we return.

Enjoy your days!

The measure of a wombat

The newest wombat in the house thanks all those who commented on its beauty, and was flattered that some asked for another view.

It's not as menacing as it looks here, and is the right size for nestling in a hand.

It checked out my sewing room today while I am having a break from cutting fabrics for this weekend's workshop.  According to my massage therapist this morning I have overdone the cutting and strained some muscles on my right side, arm and shoulder, so no cutting today......it might be finished tomorrow.  My cutting table is a good height for cutting with scissors but a bit high for rotary cutting because of the different action required, and my being short compounds that even more.

Ah well......it probably doesn't matter if not all the fabrics are cut, because I suspect we will not get four large foundation-pieced blocks finished in two days anyway.

To tell the truth I am not feeling very enthusiastic about this weekend.  The teacher has been hard to pin down if we have any questions, the only contact on her website is an email address - no phone number - and she doesn't answer emails.  One member of our group has previously attended workshops with her and says she is a very good teacher......she might be absolutely fantastic, but she doesn't seem to be a good business person.

End of moan, thank you for listening.  Returning you to your regular station now.

Last night the last stitches were knitted on the second sleeve of my alpaca jumper, and now it is being sewn together ready for the neckband to be knitted on.  Hope it fits; it may be a bit big, but that makes it all the warmer because I can wear another layer underneath if I need to.

Only 47 days until our holiday starts!  Our first day will be en route to the Big Smoke, we fly out the following day, but as far as I am concerned - once we leave our driveway, we will be on holidays.  We bought ourselves some noise-reducing earphones for the journey, because the noise of the plane engines, while not deafeningly loud, is relentless......to say nothing of the crying children, and there are always a few of them.  Our last trip home across the Pacific Ocean was accompanied by the Symphony for Plane Noise and at least 97 wailing infants.  I don't mind flying, I'm not phobic or paranoid about it, but the thought of floating around Up There surrounded by 300 or so of my new best friends gives me the heeby jeebies.  It's a personal space thing, and my space is pretty wide.

If we could afford to fly in the rarefied atmosphere of first-class, or if it were possible to cross the Pacific Ocean by ship then cross two-thirds of Canada by chauffeur-driven limousine without using up every cent we own, I would........but that would take more money than there is in the whole universe, so sadly we won't be able to do it.

More cheerfully, last Sunday afternoon the uke group played at a concert put on by the music school which runs our classes, and it went well.  We performed two songs by the Beatles and came on after a young soprano singing Mozart, and a group of 4-to-5 year olds doing cute things with a song and some bells, so I suspect we were there as comic relief.

"Writing as an aid to correct talking.
To converse correctly - to use correct language in conversation - is also a matter of importance, and while this can be acquired by a strict attention to grammatical rules, it can be greatly facilitated by the habit of writing down one's thoughts.  In writing, strict regard is, or should be, paid to the correct use of language, and when a person, from constant writing, acquires the habit of using correct language, this habit will follow him in talking.  A person who is accustomed to much writing, will always be found to use language correctly in speaking."

I would say so.

Enjoy your days!

Some holiday wildlife

While over at the coast we saw wildlife we don't see here......for instance, snow leopards at an animal park and a huge goanna being chased by a kookaburra in the rainforest.  We saw a few of these fellers.....

 ......the "Hello Koala Trail" features koala statues painted in bright colours and interesting designs; we did see others but weren't always in a position to photograph them.

 I like the beetle on this one's nose, and the gorgeous yellow-green eucalyptus leaves covering the body.  It lives at the koala hospital in Port Macquarie, where of course you can see the ridgey-didge fair dinkum real thing as well.......this little one, for instance.

 "Go away, I'm asleep.  Do not disturb.  Leave me alone.  I'm not awake."

Sea Acres is a national park in a rainforest within sight and sound of the sea, and one can walk through it on an elevated walk which is only just above ground level in parts while quite high off the ground in others.  Half way round is an open area with tall wooden sculptures, seats for sitting, and Ninox who is named after Australasian owls.

Ninox looks impressive but is not comfortable for sitting, as its beak pokes right in the middle of one's back.

Since returning home it has been hot, and some days have been very hot, and a few days have been really very hot.  Forecast for the next few days is more really very hot weather.  Summer hasn't officially started yet and already I am over it, so roll on autumn.  Before going away we ordered blinds for outside the windows of my sewing room and the living area off the kitchen, both of which face north - the hot sunny side in Australia - they were installed a few days ago, and already we have noticed the difference.  The sun doesn't hit the windows as strongly, so the windows don't heat up as much, so the rooms stay cooler.

I remember visiting with my grandmother or mother when a child, and those older houses often had blinds outside the windows to help keep rooms cooler.  Newer houses aren't always designed for good climate control but we are fortunate to have verandahs at the front and back and wide eaves round the house, all of which keep summer sun away from the house walls.

Stitching has resumed on Cricket/ette's quilt and by heck it is bright.  The blocks are eye-poppers, sashing and inner border are orange, cornerstones and binding are green, and when the striped border is added it will knock the kid's socks right off.

The uke group is now gearing up for Christmas after a busy weekend; Saturday night the choir sang at a charity concert and the uke group played too (because the choir and uke group have five members in common), then again at the monthly main street markets on Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon at an awards ceremony at the music school.  This coming Saturday we are playing at a charity afternoon tea......makes you wonder what the town did for entertainment before we came along, doesn't it?

"To remove freckles.
Bruise and squeeze the juice out of common chickweed, and to this juice add three times its quantity of soft water.  Bathe the skin with this for five or ten minutes morning and evening, and wash afterwards with clean water."

I'm afraid it's too late.......I have had freckles since I was a child, and even staying inside during the heat of summer doesn't seem to stop more appearing.

Enjoy your days!

The wanderers return

We've been back home for a few days, and very busy days they have been......so much so that it has taken until now to sit at the computer and put coherent thoughts together.

Our holiday was very enjoyable!  The folk festival was great fun, camping with our friends was a bonus as we all had a great time socialising, playing music and laughing often and long.  Then we hitched the van back to the car and drove east down the mountain to the coastal highway where we had to make a Big Decision - should we turn left (north) or right (south)?  Left or right?  Oh dear, what a choice.......last year we turned left, so this year we turned right.

One place we visited was Trial Bay Gaol.  As the link says it was started in the late 1800s but the name 'Trial Bay' refers, not to the prison as you might expect, but to the fact that a ship called "Trial" was wrecked in the vicinity in 1816.  It is quite a treacherous part of the New South Wales coast where many other ships have come to grief.

 The sign board quote starts with "Each cell is furnished with a strong front door with ponderous bolts that when shut would exhaust the ingenuity of any man to open" - obviously taking no chances that a felon would escape from what was then a fairly isolated place, although a few did.

 Remains of one of the cell blocks on a hot sunny day.

 Trial Bay itself, quite a beautiful place.

Such was the paranoia during World War I that people of German extraction were rounded up, some men were eventually interred in the by then unused gaol while their wives and family were interned in another part of the state.  Many of these people had been born in Australia or were naturalised Australians, but the thinking at the time said that they were 'the enemy' and must be dealt with.  Australia wasn't the only country to treat people in this way but nevertheless, it was done.  One such man was a prominent orthopaedic surgeon in Sydney, and he established a camp hospital where internees and local people were treated.  At the end of the war many were sent back to Germany with or without their wives and children, despite some coming from families who had lived in Australia for two or three generations and who had never been to Germany in that time.

Not far away is.......

 ......which was built in 1891, so it and the gaol are almost twins.

As the day was hot and sunny again and I had a sore possibly broken toe (don't ask) we didn't walk to the top of the lighthouse, however should you wish you can read about it here.

More on the holiday to follow in our next episode.

Bianca was very pleased to see us back and to be home again.  For the past few years we have had a house sitter while we've been away but arrangements fell through this time, so off she went to a local cattery for a bit of pampering for a couple of weeks.  This meant that the house didn't have its usual cleaning beforehand and hasn't had one since we came home either.......the cleaning fairies obviously had a holiday too, so I am going to have to wield a broom soon......

I had great plans to take needle to fabric and work on the grandkid's quilt but that hasn't yet happened either.  The next few days have taken on a life of their own, but we will see what gets done.  The choir has its annual charity concert on Saturday night, the uke group is playing again at the local main street market on Sunday morning and at an awards concert on Sunday afternoon, so that takes care of much of the weekend too.

I have decided that I was put on this earth to accomplish a certain amount, and right now I am so far behind I can never die.

"Requirements for a happy marriage.
Respect for each other is as necessary to a happy marriage as that the husband and wife should have an affection for one another.  Social equality, intellectual sympathy, and sufficient means are very important matters to be considered by those who contemplate matrimony."

Add to that, the ability to share a very small camper in wet weather without either party committing murder.

Enjoy your days!