We're having a heatwave.......

.......a tropical heatwave......

Today is the fourth day of a very hot five day heatwave, and I for one am over it.  It can go away now.  According to the weather people it is being caused by a large slow-moving mass of hot air moving south from central Queensland.  As far as I am concerned they can have it back - we wouldn't want to deprive them.

On to happier topics.

The quilting is all done on my Winding Ways quilt, the last stitches were taken yesterday.  Now to sew a line of stitching around the edges and trim off the excess backing and wadding, and make the binding from a printed black and white uneven plaid cut on the bias.

This fabric - what do you reckon?  I laid it out to get an idea of how it would look, I think it will work well.

Well, the new green glasses are a thing of beauty, to be sure!  As I need to wear them when taking pictures I'm not sure if I can get a photo to show you, but you can see them here, the green/lime colourway.  They are comfortable to wear and seem to do what I need them to do, which is to help my somewhat aging vision......what more could a person need?  They have a slight cat's eye shape, something I haven't worn before.  According to their brand website they are "Urban Kool".  Doesn't that sound like me, Kool to the bootstraps?  (don't forget the capital K, so much kooler than just cool.)

A little sadness here at Chez Wombats, our nice neighbours at Number 66 have sold up and are moving early next month.  We will be sorry to see them go but understand why they are going - their neighbour on the other side, Ms 64, is making their lives very difficult.  Ever since she moved in a few years ago with several unrestrained cats there has been friction and bad feeling (we are all fed up with her free-ranging moggies, even those of us who like cats) which culminated in her bloke and Mr 66 exchanging punches last year when we were in Canada.  It ended up in court and has caused a lot of acrimony, so for the sake of their health they have decided to go.  On the other side two doors away Number 72 is also on the market but not because of nasty neighbours, this is due to a marriage break-up.

A couple of weeks ago while out shopping we bumped into Mrs 66 who told us she had been responsible for capturing a teenage burglar in our street that very morning.  She had been out walking their little pug and was coming back up the street when she saw a young bloke riding slowly, checking out houses and gardens as he went.  She became suspicious then remembered she had left her back door unlocked, so picked up Pud (probably short for Pudding, he's a roly-poly little dog) the pug under her arm and sprinted for home.  Once at her house she saw the bike beside the house across the road and a side gate open so went inside her house and rang the police, who came very promptly - and caught the young bloke in the act with some jewellery in one hand and car keys in another.  He couldn't say "oh no, it wasn't me" could he?  He must have laid hands on a police person too, because one of the charges he faces is assaulting police.  15 years old......why wasn't he at school?  Now he faces a criminal record and time in criminal detention where he will probably learn even more bad habits, and come out with something to prove to himself and society.

Like many communities we here in the Small Smoke have our share of opportunistic crime, some committed by young people who regularly truant from school and think the world owes them a living......a 'skill' probably learned from their parents and grandparents, and so it goes on down through the generations.  However far and away the majority of people here are decent people and a few bad apples don't taint a whole case.

"The pernicious influence of indolence.
If you would preserve your children from the pernicious influence of indolence and all its corrupting tendencies, you must be earnest in purpose, active, energetic and fervent in spirit.  Earnestness sharpens the faculties; indolence corrodes and dulls them.  By the former we rise higher and higher, by the latter we sink lower and lower.  Indolence begets discontent, envy and jealousy, while labor elevates the mind and character.  Cultivate in your children habits of thought which will keep their minds occupied upon something that will be of use or advantage, and prevent them from acquiring habits of idleness, if you would secure their future well-being."

Indeed.  Somehow, though, I doubt that the parents of these young miscreants would understand these words, let alone act on them.

Enjoy your days!

Round and round and round.......

Have you ever wrestled an elephant through your sewing machine?  That's what it feels like, but I am pleased with how it's turning out......circle after circle after circle.  Only four complete circles to be done - I think, I hope - and the remaining partial circles along the outside edge will be easier.

 Of course it wasn't finished for Saturday's Big Reveal of our challenge quilts, but I'm pleased to say mine wasn't the only one!

Every now and then pictures from last year's trip to The Great White North (which wasn't very white at the time) scroll through on our computer to remind us of our holiday, and I thought my Aussie friends might like to see this bear proof rubbish bin, or trash can in Canadian-speak.

We do have some nasty critters here (including some which may kill you if you are unlucky, although many Aussies live all their lives without ever seeing snakes and crocodiles in the wild) but at least we don't have to worry about bears.

This past week has been busy, fortunately not as hectic as the previous week but busy enough.  Two - two! - trips to the theatre, including a big band concert yesterday afternoon which was great fun.  Big band music from the 1930s and 40s is great.  On Wednesday night we attended a 2017 preview night at our local theatre to find out what will be on next year, we have some fabulous concerts and plays to look forward to.

Many regular TV programs have finished for the year and are replaced with, in some cases, much more interesting programs and in other, complete rubbish.......and summer sport......lots of sport, way too much sport.....we have found that ads are much more interesting with the sound muted.  Watching people dance and prance around with no music playing is quite funny!  Odd......but still funny.

However what intrigues me each and every year is that news programs also stop for over two months.  Regular daily news bulletins still continue, but in-depth news programs just - stop.  Does this mean nothing newsworthy happens over December and January?  I find that very difficult to believe, you know.

We will soon be starting to crank our brains up for the annual onslaught of Christmas.  Here at Chez Wombats Christmas is always quite low-key, and this year's event will be even more so as we won't be here.  We will be in Canberra having Christmas with family, for a change.  Fingers crossed for a mild season - last year's Yule season was horribly hot, and I can't cope with that too often.  So the Christmas wombats will stay packed away this year, and Flossie the Jim Shore angel won't come out of her box, and a tree won't be decorated.  We might take a small tabletop tree and a string of tiny green lights away in the caravan with us for a bit of festive cheer, but that will be the extent of our decorating this year; it will be "bah, humbug" all the way.

One of last week's appointments was at the optometrist for my two-yearly check-up and my eyes received a glowing report, which is great news.  The rest of me may be falling apart, but the eyes are amazing!  For many years, however, I have been wearing glasses for anything close (as do many older folk) and the prescription is being re-jigged, so I have ordered new frames to contain the new lenses......and guess what, they are green!  Not only green, but they fitted perfectly on first try-on - something which has never happened in the past.  My face is not wide so many glasses don't fit, and the length of the side arms is usually way too long as well, but not these gorgeous green frames.  Obviously made just for me!  The phone call to say they are ready to be collected should come any day now.

"Perspiration.
To remove the unpleasant odor produced by perspiration, put two tablespoons of the compound spirit of ammonia in a basin of water, and use it for bathing.  It leaves the skin clear, sweet and fresh as one could wish.  It is perfectly harmless, very cheap, and is recommended on the authority of an experienced physician."

This handy hint (or should one say 'hack' these days?  I don't) from the mid-1880s was in the days when one's clothing wasn't washed as frequently as it is now, so perhaps that ammonia was really needed.

Enjoy your days!

Something rare - time at home!

This week has been one of the busiest that we have had for a long time - many regular commitments and some irregular ones have all happened together, but now we're enjoying a rare afternoon at home.

It hasn't been totally wasted, though; a small project was assembled at sewing group.  Mind you, the pieces were cut out two months ago and have just been sitting around in my sewing room since then waiting for an opportunity to be made up.

Isn't it interesting?  My Victoria, B.C., friend Lois (who doesn't have a blog) gave me this row by row "West Coast View" last year when we visited, it's from Snip & Stitch Sewing Centre, Nanaimo, one of our shopping stops on a trip up island, on a freezing cold day with a howling gale blowing.  I love the colours!  It will have a border or two added and become a table centre.  Rose Marie also gave me a row by row from Ontario (which, coincidentally, uses very similar fabrics and colours) and it is next on the 'smaller projects' list, once Winding Ways is quilted; I plan to have a go at needle turn applique on that one so it may even go away with me next month.

Six days to go until the challenge quilts are revealed, mine definitely won't be finished.......but I can live with that.  The world won't stop spinning on its axis because of it.

This morning the uke group played at a Christmas fair for a local worthy cause and it was fun, as usual.  We even had people dancing when we played "Sway"!  Two more weeks until the next gig, we'll be famous yet, you know.

It hasn't been all fun and games lately, though.  Last weekend our choir director's partner died; he had been ill for some time so it was not a surprise, but was still sad.  Yesterday he was given a send-off with much love, music and friends, and a couple of songs from the choir.

Today is one year since we arrived back from our trip to Canada, and given today's heat I would gladly go back.  If only it wasn't for the long flight up there in a tin box with 300 of my new best friends and 97 crying babies........

Saw my GP earlier in the week for a check up, and pointed to a 'thing' on my right cheek.  Oh yes, he said, peering at it through that magnifier thingy doctors use, it's a sun spot.  Keep an eye on it, he said.  (pretty difficult when it's low down on my cheek south of my eyes)  Take photos on your phone looking in a mirror to track its progress, he said.  Um yes, I said but I probably won't take a skin selfie, next time I see him in a couple of months he can check it again.  You're not burning it off, I said, you can burn anywhere else but not my face.  No, he said, it will probably have to be (gulp) surgically removed eventually.  Something to look forward to, for sure.

Oh, the fun of having ancestors from northern Europe.

"Freckles.
Freckles are of two kinds.  Those occasioned by exposure to the sunshine, and consequently evanescent, are denominated "summer freckles;" those which are constitutional and permanent are called "cold freckles".  With regard to the latter, it is impossible to give any advice which will be of value.  They result from causes not to be affected by mere external applications.  Summer freckles are not so difficult to deal with, and with a little care the skin may be kept free from this cause of disfigurement.  Some skins are so delicate that they become freckled on the slightest exposure to open air in summer.  The cause assigned for this is that the iron in the blood, forming a junction with the oxygen, leaves a rusty mark where the junction takes place."

What do you know.......I have rusty skin, and here was I thinking that it was only my joints which were rusty.

Enjoy your days!

What a week

Let's not get too hung up on negatives, though......the world is still (mostly!) an amazing place.

Last week we went for a Nice Sunday Drive on Friday to a small village 40 minutes away and stopped off at a water storage lake which we last visited in mid-September, when there was much less water in it than there is now.

Water in this section of the lake was nowhere near as high as here, and the trees now in the water were still a long way from the bank a couple of months ago.

As promised (sorry, can't remember who was promised but I know I told someone there would be pics) the backing for my Winding Ways quilt.

 The backing has to be joined, so why not make a feature of the join?  The centre two stripes are four inches finished, the next two are eight inches, and I have forgotten how wide the two outside stripes are but they were duly measured and cut.  I quite like this idea and may use it again.

 Lots of circles in these prints.  The quilt is being finished - finally - for my group challenge, which this year is "Circles", hence the decision to get a move on because it fits in with the theme.

Mind you, it still may not be completely finished by the deadline which is two weeks from tomorrow.......never mind, it can still be taken along and flourished aloft, then brought home to be completed.  Quilting will follow the lines of the circles in the blocks on the front and will be done with the walking foot, using a black and white variegated thread.

And I can tell you now that Madame President won't like it.  Not enough garish colour for her taste, but it's my quilt and I do like it.  I like it a lot.  I'm thinking of calling it "The long and winding road".

Last weekend we had a tutor visiting from the Big Smoke, it was lovely to renew our acquaintance; many many years ago we were members of the same group.  I have long admired her work and it was interesting to have a go at machine embroidery/thread painting/whatever you like to call it.  The background is different tones of silver-grey and is more textured than it looks here, the large copper-coloured leaf will be finished once a new bobbin is wound with dark maroon thread and the remaining white spaces filled in with colour.

This technique is quite hard on one's neck, shoulders and back, and the fact that my machine was sitting on a regular table and not in my own lower sewing table with my own chair adjusted for my own short self made it even more difficult; I was quite stiff and sore by Sunday evening and haven't sewn a stitch since.  Despite that it's now number two on the list of Stuff That I Really Want To Finish, and will have its turn after Winding Ways is done.

We're having a little taste of summer now with the occasional warmer day - today isn't too hot but it is, surprisingly for here, a little humid.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow, that might explain it......for once my hair isn't dead straight!

Every now and then the thought crosses my mind to get my hair cut shorter and just as quickly my mind says "oh, don't be silly.  If you have it cut you will look the same as all the other old ladies in town."  So I don't listen to the thought and I keep my hair long, because I like to be a little different.  Perhaps when it's all grey or white might be the time to cut it shorter and have coloured streaks put in - green, of course - but, considering my somewhat advanced age (big significant birthday coming up next year, you know; I'm trying to ignore it) there is still a lot of its natural auburn colour left, so while I still have it I'm going to flaunt it.  Nothing like wearing one's hair up with a flower pinned in to make a slightly frivolous statement, is there?

The uke group has a gig next Sunday morning so yes, there will be flowers.  I'm thinking the blue orchids, because my plan is to wear bright blue clothes.

"The dress for the theatre.
The promenade dress with the addition of a handsome cloak or shawl, which may be thrown aside if it is uncomfortable, is suitable for a theatre,  The dress should be quiet and plain, without any attempt at display.  Either a bonnet or hat may be worn.  Gloves should be dark, harmonizing with the dress."

Well......we will be performing but not in a theatre, we will be outdoors in a garden at the local racecourse, and considering that it could be anything from a bit warm to stinking hot we'll give the cloak or shawl a miss.  Definitely be wearing a hat though, my wardrobe includes several Noosa hats which keep the sun off my face in, hopefully, quite a stylish way.

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 back!

Still need to upload photos from my camera, and then I can tell you all about our holiday.

Two more sleeps until our holiday

We will be leaving on Saturday morning so there will be a blogging break for a couple of weeks.

Still have to pack, but one important thing is done......my uke is packed!  Next Wednesday morning I will be meeting up with a ukulele group not far from where we will be staying (we will be out of town) which should be fun.  Kevin plays lawn bowls and he is also looking forward to meeting local bowlers for a game or two.  While he is doing that I may, just may, not definite mind you, but perhaps I just might check out the local op shops, or thrift stores if you don't live in Australia.......I like a good op shop crawl.

On Sunday afternoon we will be arriving on Palmers Island for a week, then heading south to visit Urunga before turning back inland.  Our last few days will be spent in Dorrigo - such a nice town, there is a great quilt shop and several excellent cafes - because the folk festival is on.  We missed it last year, we were in Canada instead!

The first year we were living here we visited a couple of open gardens, and at one I bought a potted kalanchoe with an interesting name - "Dusky Bells".   It spent a few years hanging around in its pot on the edge of our fairly sheltered back verandah doing very little; not dying, but certainly not thriving.  A couple of years ago we had a short-but-sharp storm which, as well as breaking off a 30 ft high tree in our front yard, toppled the stand holding some hanging plants including Dusky Bells.  The stand was duly moved into a more sheltered corner, and Dusky Bells was re-potted.  It promptly picked itself up, shook itself, looked around, decided that the new corner was The Place To Be and has been going great guns ever since.  I'm curious, though......it's hanging and trailing, whereas I thought kalanchoes had their flowers at the top of an erect stem.  Perhaps it needs a few of those little blue pills that one hears about?

 The pot holding most of the kalanchoe sits above this orange pot.

Definitely trailing - nothing upright about it, but its leaves are nice and glossy and the flowers are interesting.

We don't have television in our little caravan and I for one won't miss it.  I certainly won't miss the ads for cars, aren't they silly?  Really, what can be said about cars that hasn't already been said over and over again?  A wheel at each corner and one to hang onto.  That's about it.  Cars these days all seem interchangeable to me anyway, but then - what do I know about such things?

One of us hits the mute button when ads come on air.  Watching ads with the sound turned off is quite funny, we can recommend it!  If it were up to me the TV would stay off for 99% of the time, but the bloke who shares my bed likes to watch it.

Not in bed, though.  We have one not-very-big TV (no huge screens and surround sound for us) and it lives in the living room just off the kitchen.  I can't imagine having a TV in my bedroom, even though Kevin does watch through his eyelids.

We've been checking out the weather forecast for next week to see what clothes to pack and the days look like being a few degrees warmer than here which is quite bearable, but nights will be several degrees warmer than what we are currently enjoying.  Still, we will be near the Pacific Ocean so hopefully there will be a sea breeze to keep bugs away and to stop nights being too hot for sleeping.  This week I have worn sandals twice, my bare toes have been hanging out in the fresh air for the first time in several months, and next week they may not be covered much at all.  Even the bare arms and legs may have a turn at fresh air.

But that's all.  There are limits to what I bare in public, folks.

"In assisting a lady to enter a carriage, a gentleman will take care that the skirt of her dress is not allowed to hang outside.  A carriage robe should be provided to protect her dress from the mud and dirt of the road.  The gentleman should provide the lady with her parasol, fan and shawl, and see that she is comfortable in every way, before he seats himself."

Modern cars mean that the skirts of our dresses stay inside, don't they?  We don't need carriage rugs or parasols to keep us sheltered on a ride either, thank goodness for modern comforts

We'll be back in a few weeks, meanwhile......

Enjoy your days!