Best wishes for Christmas!

And if it happens that you don't celebrate Christmas - best wishes, anyway!

Our grandkid has arrived!

This morning our son rang to tell us that Euan Patrick arrived in the world today at stupid early o'clock, three weeks early.....Cricket has a name!  Everyone is well, and to judge by a photo online he is a cute little guy, nicely filled out despite being early.  His hand, wrist and face (all we can see) certainly don't look scrawny or undercooked.  His names are a nod to the Scots and Irish in his ancestry.

A lovely way to wind down the year.

We will be driving to Canberra a few days after Christmas to meet him.  We had Plans in place to arrive the day before the due date, but of course that date is now gone out the window and a New Plan thought out.  Our Christmas lunch at a local restaurant had been booked and paid for, and it is a lot of money to throw away........so we will enjoy that, and let young Euan and his parents settle in before we descend on their town with flags flying and banners waving..

His quilt is not yet layered and quilted but that will get done in time for our subsequent visit at Easter.

The other day at sewing guild advice was asked for, received and taken, and a new skirt was cut out - what do you think of this fabric, isn't it gorgeous?

 It was a smidgeon narrow for the flared skirt planned from this pattern, but the selvedge will be hidden inside the side seam and hem so no one will ever see it.

It's been in my stash for a couple of years, and this will be the eighth time I have used this pattern so it will be a quick make - a simple flared skirt with a hip yoke, just right for such a fancy print.  The fabric is a cotton blend so will be cool and comfortable in our hot summers; in my sumptuous wardrobe are a red top, and two orange tops, and a yellow top, all of which will go well with this skirt.  Life is too short to be dull, yes?

Uke group has finished for the year but we still have a performance at the markets in the main street on Sunday.  We also have two performances at the big country music festival next month so there will be plenty of music to keep me happy, and I intend to take my uke to Canberra so I can practice.

At this time of year there's much reason to turn the TV on, is there?  Repeats (which, admittedly, are only repeats if you have seen already them), bad reality shows which are completely unreal, and ghastly programs made in hospital emergency rooms - why would anyone want to be the focus of that?  There you are lying in an uncomfortable bed surrounded by tubes going in and out of various orifices and machines making peculiar noises, and wearing the oh-so-beautiful backless hospital gown......no, thank you.  Kevin has instructions that, should I ever be in that situation, he is to send the cameras away forthwith and immediately, if not sooner.  I have promised to do the same for him.  Sometimes one sees a politician grinning his/her way through a hospital visit, and one sympathises with the poor patients on show.

Perhaps they are not really patients, just actors hired for the occasion?  If I were in hospital wearing a nightie and a politician, his/her entourage and a camera crew came near me, I would throw a bedpan at them.......preferably one which hadn't been emptied.......and scream.  Loudly.

"Remember that children are men and women in miniature, and though they should be allowed to act as children, still our dealings with them should be manly and not morose.  Remember also that every word, tone and gesture, nay, even your dress, makes an impression."

This means, hopefully, that young Euan will regard his Grandmama Jennifer as a bright cheerful person who likes flowers, if my new skirt is any indication.

Enjoy your days!

Did you know......

.......that kangaroos can be quite nasty?  When they are lazing around on a hot day (the sun was so bright it was difficult to get a good photo) they look almost tame.

 However - they are not, so there was no way I was going for the close-up shot.

Did you also know that trees can be strangled by other trees?

 We learnt about these at school.  A seed is carried by a bird, or by the wind, and deposited high in a tree whereupon it germinates and sends down roots.....down, down, down to the ground, while the upper branches and leaves reach for the sky.  Those roots get stronger and it's not unknown for the 'host' tree to die, strangled.

Some of the sights on our recent holiday.

We have had rain!  While that may not mean much to some, it is cause for much rejoicing here.  We are well below the average annual rainfall, only about two-thirds of the average has fallen this year, but December is well up on average and it's not even half over yet.  More rain is forecast for tonight and the next couple of days, so fingers crossed that it does indeed fall where it's needed.  Our garden is smiling, and the hill behind us is now carpeted in green grass which barely a week ago was dry, brown and dead.

Only a month now until Cricket/ette pops out to greet the world.  We will be driving All That Way to Canberra (nine hours or so including an overnight stop, because we have decided that we are too old to do it in one day) to join the other grandparents in saying 'hello' and patting him/her on the head.  If the quilt is finished it will go with us to be handed over - if not, we will be in Canberra again at Easter and it will be gifted then.  Either way, I'm sure Cricket/ette won't mind.

And of course - we will know whether it is Cricket or Crickette!  Crickette would be nice......there have been too many blokes in my life.....no sisters, I had two younger brothers.  No daughters, I had two sons.  Even the cousins we played with as children were boys.  I did have girl cousins on my father's side but they lived interstate; I only remember seeing them two or three times during my childhood and, because of a split in the family, not at all afterwards.

Anyone else having trouble with blogger's robot verification?  It seems to have been turned on again, even on blogs which didn't use it.  Thanks to a link on Fiona's blog I have fixed it, it was easy - here is the link.  Many thanks, Fiona!

"Never introduce unpleasant topics, nor describe revolting scenes in general company."

Indeed.  Why is it that some folk seem bent on doing just that?  We know the world is not all sweetness and light, but dark topics do not need to be dwelt on and emphasised out of all proportion.

Enjoy your days!

I did say it was bright.......

Here is the top of Cricket/ette's quilt.

 A few of the blocks........

 .......and the border fabric.

Binding will be the same green as the cornerstones.

Recently the prescription for my reading glasses had to be tweaked, so now I have nice new specs.  Choosing new glasses is a very fraught exercise, yes?  Staring at oneself in a mirror, trying not to look at the blemishes but just to focus on "how do these look".  Thank goodness the fashion for glasses with narrow rectangular lenses has gone, I looked so silly in them, but now many frames are thick and heavy which do nothing for my face either.  My last glasses had frames with sharp corners and arms made in two pieces, and I was never happy with them because my hair caught on them so many times.  The new ones are much smoother, black half-frames with touches of gold on the side arms........and they haven't pulled at my hair once.

Sadly the optometrist had no nice green frames for me.  They did have thick heavy frames in a particularly virulent shade of poison uranium green, which I couldn't even bring myself to try on.  It would be so nice to have lovely rich deep emerald green not-too-chunky frames........dream on, Jennifer.......

Following Linda's recent recommendation I reserved "Astor Place Vintage" at the library, collected it yesterday morning, and finished it last night.  Thank you, Linda - it was such a good read, I really enjoyed it.  The setting is New York in 1907-08, a time and place about which I know very little but which is brought so well to life in this book, and in 2007.

Mind you, not much else was done here yesterday.

When I was a child I was called a bookworm and was never sure if was a compliment.  "She's always got her head in a book" - I can still hear it being said.  The implication was "she's a day-dreamer, never does anything practical" which is (and was then too) not true.  My parents didn't know where my love of reading came from; not from either of them, for sure.  My mother, like many girls of the time, finished her education at high school level and was never a reader.  My father, not a reader either, won a scholarship to study architecture after high school but was not allowed to take it up; his father and uncle were builders, and he was expected to join them in the business.  War intervened, he enlisted when he was 20, and he never did get to follow his dream.

The bookworm didn't finish high school either, but that's a story for another day.

"It is frequently the case, that a girl's education ends just as her mind is beginning to mature and her faculties are beginning to develop.  Her education ends when it ought properly to begin.  She enters upon marriage entirely unprepared, and, perchance, by some misfortune, she is thrown penniless upon the world with no means of obtaining a livelihood, for her education has never fitted her for any vocation.  Not having been properly taught herself, she is not able to teach, and she finds no avenue of employment open to her."

Perhaps true in 1885 when that was written, but not so much in my experience many years later - the only times I was out of work was when I wanted to be, and I had no desire to become a teacher although much of my working life was spent in the education system.

Enjoy your days!

I won I won I won!

Recently there has been a Canadian Blog Hop, and because we have family and many friends in Canada I was reading the blogs......and there were giveaways, and the fabrics were very luscious, so I entered my name on one......

.......and I won!

Thank you to Linda at Stitch Lines, and to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop in Toronto, for my prize.

It's a very small world these days because Linda knows Karen, and I know Karen too......and now I have 'met' Linda, although we are on the far side of the known universe from each other.

Several years ago I worked for a boss who was very suspicious of the internet and anything to do with it   He couldn't believe that I would meet up (and even stay!) with people sight unseen, because we had made contact online.  That was 15 years ago, wonder if he has changed his mind since then?  Kevin and I have met some wonderful people over the years that we would never have met otherwise thanks to the interwebz, and it enables us to keep in touch with our sons who both live far away from us.

Linda even said she would send me some cold air from Canada, isn't she a wonderful person?  It has been needed here because last Saturday was 41.7 deg C (which is 107 deg if you are thinking in old money) with a hot dry wind, and it wasn't at all nice.  Fortunately the uke gig was in an air-conditioned room, we were very thankful - and so were our ukes.  Stringed instruments don't like extreme heat, they get unhappy and go out of tune.

A couple of days ago the second large block for the flower basket quilt was finished.  First large block.......

 .......second large block, 23 to go.  Blocks are 18in finished and will be set alternately.

The blocks will be quilted as I go (can't say quilt as you go, because you aren't doing it - I am) before being joined but I haven't yet decided if it will be by hand or machine.  Probably machine.  I would like to see it finished while I am still on this earth.  Next Easter will be nine years since it was started; it was never intended to be a quick finish, just a project to pick up from time to time and take away on holidays.

Last week was one year since my shoulder operation and I am pleased to report that it is still attached to the rest of me.  It doesn't even hurt now, thank goodness, just the occasional twinge of discomfort on certain activities such as hair washing.

Because of the heat, work on Cricket/ette's quilt had slowed but as today is milder the outer borders have now been cut, and the inner borders are pinned to be joined in one long strip prior to being cut to length.  Our son rang earlier today, they had just been to the baby doctor for a check-up (I can't spell obstetrician) and all is proceeding well.  He asked me what his birth weight was, he was 6lbs 12 ozs - his wife said she was over 7lbs at birth; they have been told the baby isn't too huge but has a big head.  I sent her my sympathy.

"Where gentlemen may keep their hats on.
At garden parties and at all assemblies held in the open air, gentlemen keep their hats on their heads.  If draughts of cold air, or other causes, make it necessary for them to retain their hats on their heads, when in the presence of ladies within doors, they explain the necessity and ask permission of the ladies whom they accompany."

Any sensible person, male or female, wears a hat in summer here.  I have five summer hats so can make a choice based on what else I am wearing before setting foot outside........and believe me, I do.

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!