It's beginning to look a bit like.......

.......hmmmmm..........

Because the ukulele group (the faithful remnants of it) are gathering here tomorrow for the last time this year I thought it would be timely to strew a bit of Chrissy cheer around to enhance the festive feeling.

First we have the Christmas wombats, a tree, and Flossy.  (and sundry other assorted Stuff on the table which has nothing to do with Christmas)

She is called 'Christmas Tree Angel', but I named her Flossy.

The Canadian tree, with ornaments bought or gifted in Canada......a bear, a loon, beavers, and maple leaves.

That's it so far.  More Stuff may or may not be put out, depending on how inspired I feel.  Everything put out has to be packed away eventually, and you know who gets that job, don't you?

This week's houses.  A party house with a fish on the roof - because, why not - and a flowery garden house.

Work has resumed on making these autumn blocks.  The pattern, with my changes, calls for over 300 of the little blighters.  Sewing is easy - lots of mindless feeding of fabrics through machine - trimming is tedious, but necessary.

These are 4-1/2 in, so 4 in finished.  I am hoping it will be gorgeous when done.

How has everyone's week been?  I hope you are all keeping well, and healthy.  I know poor Sally is recovering from surgery for a broken arm, we hope you are out and about soon, Sally - I think your doggo might have to walk himself in future!

A package is on its way to The One And Only Grandkid, who turns six next weekend.  There will be another package sent in a day or two so he has something under the tree from us to open on Christmas Day, because when you have just turned six it's all about the presents, isn't it?

Yesterday the quilt group met for our last lunch of the year, and fabulously festive it was too.  We always have a 'lucky dip gift exchange'; each person brings two 30cm cuts of fabric (beautifully wrapped, of course) and this year the fabrics I ended up with were a bright bubble print on black, and an orange tone on tone - both just my style!  

This is the time of year I start to look forward to my Annual Treat.  I really like fruit mince pies but Kevin doesn't care for them at all, so a little closer to The Day I buy myself two.....just two......and have one for afternoon tea on Christmas Eve, the other on Christmas Day.  With really really good thick cream.  Then I am happy until the next year.  It would be so easy to buy a whole box of six (or even more) but then I would scoff the lot and I would end up fatter than the fat bloke in the red suit, and that would never do.

"Expensive dinners not the most enjoyable.

It is a mistake to think that in giving a dinner, it is indispensable to have certain dishes and a variety of wines, because others serve them.  Those who entertain frequently often use their own discretion, and never feel obliged to do as others do, if they wish to do differently.  Some of the most enjoyable dinners given are those which are least expensive.  It is this mistaken feeling that people cannot entertain without committing all sorts of extravagances, which causes many persons, in every way well qualified to do incalculable good socially, to exclude themselves from all general society."

So......you do realise that if you are entertained here, it may not be an extravagant affair?  Just so you know before committing yourself......

Enjoy your days!

We survived the heatwave

It was a particularly nasty one, too.  However we have lived to tell the tale, even though I'm sure a few of my brain cells have fried in the process.

It is very difficult to settle to doing anything in such extreme heat in which records were broken, including the hottest December night recorded here since 1965.  Sewing seems too much effort because concentration is difficult, but some books were read......that's about all, really.  A certain amount of time that I will never get back was wasted online.  The forecast for the coming week is much more pleasant.

This week's houses were made today, because it is cool enough to sew..

Several houses are light/bright colours, so I thought a few darker ones should be made to balance it.  The sky print on the darker house with butterflies/moths it has been in my stash for goodness knows how long, and the yellow print on the other house is also from many years ago.  It's not the most fabulous photo ever, is it; perhaps having such extremes of dark and light side-by-side has confused the camera.

Or it could just be that the person pressing the button should have taken more care.  She will endeavour to do better next time.

Everywhere we go is now screaming 'Christmas', isn't it?  Very loudly, in some places.  Flashing displays have started to appear outside houses, some of which go on until quite late at night.  I wouldn't like to have any too close to us - I need my sleep!

There has, however been a certain amount of flashing lights and loud music this week because, after the hot start, it turned stormy with much thunder and lightning.  The hill behind us was looking dry and crackly brown, but is already starting to green up again.

How will you all be spending Christmas this year?  We have booked ourselves into a restaurant for lunch.  We started doing that in......oh, about 2005, when our Canaussian son was spending his first Christmas in Canada and our older son was playing music aboard a cruise ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  Rather than just sit around and grin at each other I suggested going out for lunch; we did, and enjoyed it so much that we have done it every year since when it's been just the two of us.  The day seems more festive than just staying home as we have all done so much of that, this year......and besides, someone else gets to prepare and serve the meal and clear away afterward, which makes the occasion more special.

I have been looking through my sumptuous wardrobe, and what is contained therein will see me through the festive season.  There are a couple of end-of-year lunches happening but nothing new will be needed; this year has been so quiet that there are clothes from last summer which haven't yet been worn this season.  A few basic tee shirts could be handy as some of mine have been relegated to 'home' rather than 'out' clothes, so we might see what turns up in the sales in a few weeks.

Continuing on from last week's quote on returning hospitality:

"Some are deterred from accepting invitations by the feeling that they cannot return the hospitality in so magnificent a form.  It is not the costly preparations, nor the expensive repast offered which are the most agreeable features of any entertainment, but it is the kind and friendly feeling shown.  Those who are not deterred from accepting such invitations for this reason, and who enjoy the fruits of friendliness thus shown them, must possess narrow views of their duty, and very little self-respect, if, when an opportunity presents itself in any way to reciprocate the kind feeling manifested, they fail to avail themselves of it.  True hospitality, however, neither expects nor desires any return."

The last sentence particularly rings with me - "neither expects nor desires any return".  Just enjoy the company of friends without having to feel 'it was their turn last week, so it must be mine this week'.  

Enjoy your days!

Trust me.....you wouldn't want to be here today

It is hot, day two of a heatwave, but more than that - there is a nasty strong wind blowing.  We are staying inside.  It's days like this that workers in schools absolutely dread because children are much affected by wind, and is the sort of weather that makes us hope that no fires start because they would be very difficult to put out.

On Thursday night we had our end-of-year choir outing to a restaurant where we enjoyed a very nice meal, and were even allowed to sing some Christmas songs - much to the enjoyment of our fellow diners, it seems!  We had to stay seated, but we could sing.  Now we are on holidays until the first week in February, which seems a very long way away.

Not a whole heap of much at all has been done this week.  Stitches have been sewn, some have been knitted.  Books have been read.  A couple more houses were made.  Another cat house just because, and a house with flowers on the door and in the sky.

After these were made all the completed houses were counted, and there are 31 completed - only another 30 needed to make a fun quilt; considering that these were just a fun project to pass the time they have taken on a life of their own.

The burn on my wrist has healed and my Singer Featherweight now has a new bright LED light which will not get hot enough to burn.  My skin is pleased.

Yesterday at quilt group we showed our 'finished' quilts, some of which were not ~ quite ~ finished.  Mine is one which wasn't, so it wasn't shown.  This year's challenge was to finish a UFO and, while I did that, it wasn't the one I had hoped to finish.  Never mind.....there is always next year, isn't there?  Several members said they enjoyed the impetus to finish something which had been languishing unloved for a while so we may use the same idea next year.

We are now being assailed on all sides by everything Christmas, whether we are prepared for it or not.  Music on the radio - decorations in every store - being exhorted to shop for stuff we, and our nearest and dearest, may neither want or need.  Perhaps it's my imagination, but it all seems to have been even more intense this year. 

Hot weather, of course, brings out the worst in some people when it comes to public dressing.  When we were out hunting and gathering on Monady I was admiring an older woman and her friend who had taken the time to dress smartly, which was more than could be said for other people who were passing by.  They both wore 3/4 pants and floaty tops and were so much more attractive than the folk who show a lot of flesh.  Wearing less clothing doesn't necessarily make you cooler, you know - the right fabrics and loose styles will help, but stinky synthetics and tight pants will not.

Ah well.  The world would be a dull place if everyone was as gorgeous as we are, wouldn't it?

Returning hospitality.

Those who are in the habit of giving dinner parties, should return the invitation before another is extended to them.  Society is very severe upon those who do not return debts of hospitality, if they have the means to do so.  If they never entertain anyone because of limited means, or for other good reasons, it is so understood, and it is not expected that they should make exceptions; or if they are in the habit of giving other entertainments and not dinners, their debts of hospitality can be returned by invitations to whatever the entertainment might be."

While the current state of the world precludes much entertaining - we can still do some.

Enjoy your days!

We have found out more Stuff

During the week we have been checking the dates when Kevin's grandfather Adolphus sailed the ocean wide, and when he worked closer to home.  During his time working on the 'Sobraon/Tingira' she was moored in Sydney Harbour; Adolphus' ocean-going career was on other ships such as 'Hawkesbury', albeit for the same owners.  He was from Guernsey in the Channel Islands and he married a fellow Islander, Emma, in Sydney.  We don't know if they knew each other before he set out to see the world or if they met by design or chance in Sydney, but they married there.

They had one son who survived, and another son who died as a young baby.  Emma died a few years later, and Adolphus married wife number two, Margaret.  This seems to have been the end of his sailing career but not the end of his life on ships.  The marriage to Margaret lasted for over twenty years and produced one child, a girl.  A couple of years after Margaret's death Adolphus married Laura Evelyn - Kevin's grandmother.

So......my painting has a more distant connection with the 'Sobraon' than we first thought because Adolphus didn't sail under Captain Elmslie, but the connection is still there and is still interesting.

Two houses have been built.

One of these days I shall count how many have been made, and take a progress photo.  Sewing on my Singer Featherweight can, it seems, be dangerous as the back of my wrist was burned when I reached under the arm to snip a thread; the light gets very hot.  A new LED light has now been ordered which will give light without heat.

However - all is well, my wrist hasn't fallen off.

'Imprismed' has been started, one block is partly done.  When more progress is made it will be photographed too.

Progresss on the tumbler quilt continues; it won't be long until the current panel is done.  That will one third of the top panel, yay!

Summer with its hot weather is here, whether we like it or not.  It's also a bit stormy but we haven't had rain for a little while, although we keep living in hope.  Our long range forecaster tells us we could be in for a stormy rainy summer.

Back in the dark ages when I was at school we learned that the seasons change - poof! just like that - on the winter and summer solstices, and on the spring and autumn equinoxes.  European settlers from the northern hemisphere pushed their ideas of seasonal changes on Australia, while local Aborigines held their own views on changes which, of course, varies in different parts of the country.  Scientists are now realising that this makes more sense than the European model.

So......we suffer through the heat of summer, and enjoy the rest of the year.

"Accepting hospitality a sign of good-will.

As eating with another under his own roof is in all conditions of society regarded as a sign of good-will, those who partake of proffered hospitalities, only to gossip about and abuse their host and hostess, should remember, that in the opinion of all honorable persons, they injure themselves by so doing."

This is indeed so.  Don't say anything nasty about your host or hostess, or you may find youself never invited anywhere again.

Enjoy your days!

In which we find out all sorts of Stuff

It has rained, it is warming up.  Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of some unpleasantly hot weather, but never mind.  We are Ozzies.  We are tough.

Two more houses were made, a house of cats ('cathouse' has, I believe, unfortunate connotations) and a flower house with a lairy door.

And a lovely surprise - two houses were received from Sally, after flying all the way over the big ocean!  One even has an American flag displayed in the window, so we know where it was built.  

Thank you, Sally - how nice is that!  The darker house takes me to autumn, and the blue house is definitely spring.

Now - are you sitting comfortably, with a cuppa and perhaps a snack to hand?

This watercolour painting, bought many years ago (sometime in the 1990s from memory; I wish now that I could remember, but never mind) has quite a story.  The caption reads 'Mallee Parrot', and it is signed by 'E.W. Elmslie'.  I loved it at first sight but it was out of my budget at the time.  Occasionally I would check out the antique/junque shop to see if it was still there......and one day, it wasn't.  Oh well, I thought to myself, someone else obviously loved it too, and thought nothing of it.

Then one day I found it again stacked on the floor at the back of the shop with a considerably reduced price because the glass had cracked - so it came home with me.  After we moved here I had the uninspiring frame replaced but couldn't do anything about the brown mount, because the painting and mount were glued to a backing and removing them would have caused damage.  Deep teal and white boards were chosen to compliment the paint colours and cover the old mount, and the new frame resembles a smooth tree branch.

From time to time I looked up "E.W. Elmslie' but could only find out about a British Architect of that name, however that was before the wonder which is Trove, a repository of digitised media.  One day I found out that Miss E.W. Elmslie had won a prize for two watercolours of birds at the Dubbo Show in 1914 and, while this may be one of those, I have no proof that it is or isn't.

This morning I looked up Miss Elmslie again and found information that hadn't been there in earlier searches.  Her name was Edith Ward Elmslie and she remained 'Miss' all her life, which was from 1862 to 1921.

Miss Elmslie's father was Lt James Aberdour Elmslie, RNR (1827-1908) and for many years he was captain of the 'Sobraon', a famous clipper ship of the late 1800s, which made many voyages between England and Australia.  It was later acquired by the Australian Navy as a training ship and renamed 'Tingira' after which it became a floating school for boys at risk, until being broken up during WWII.

Now, this is where we cue the creepy music......

Kevin's grandfather Adolphus Peter Robilliard (1849-1933) was a merchant seaman who worked on the 'Sobraon/Tingira'.  What are the chances that, all those years later, I would buy a painting by the daughter of my husband's grandfather's captain?

"Table manners and etiquette.

It is of the highest importance that all persons should conduct themselves with the strictest regard to good breeding, even in the privacy of their own homes, when at table: a neglect of such observances will render one stiff and awkward in society.  There are so many little points to be observed, that unless a person is habitually accustomed to observe them, he unconsciously commits some error, or will appear awkward and constrained upon occasions when it is important to be fully at ease."

I concur.  Even if you aren't particularly 'well bred' there is nothing to stop you from acting as if you are.

Enjoy your days!

Days are getting longer

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

A couple more houses are finished.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Retiring from the table.

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

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

Enjoy your days!

A couple of houses

Two houses were made yesterday, taking the total to 21.......only 40 more to go, but there is no hurry.

This is a long way from being a stash buster, some of those pieces of fabric are quite small, but it has used up some leftovers.

This is another piece of tatting by Aunty Laura - isn't it beautiful?  The removeable lining is pale green fabric, possibly rayon taffeta, with a plain front and back joined by a panel of ruching.  Inside that is a white padded cosy which would have kept a teapot warm. 

I don't know the date this was made, but am guessing perhaps in the 1930s......there's something about it that reminds me of Thirties clothes when ruching was a popular trim; you could imagine a set of pretty underthings in pale green (which was called 'Eau de Nil') with cream lace.  The green is similar to "30s green" quilt fabric, isn't it?  

The next panel of tumblers is more than half done.  There were nearly 100 pieces too many cut because I didn't check the dimensions of the tumbler in EQ7; the height was correct, but theirs was narrower than mine.  So, those leftovers will go on the back.  I prefer the proportions of mine......the EQ7 ones seem a bit skinny.  As I used to be.....sigh.......

Do advertisers really think that those of us of more mature years are fooled by TV ads for "younger looking skin" using Sweet Young Things who seem to be barely out of their teens?  I know they are selling an illusion more than a product, but really.......we're not stupid, you know.

Meanwhile on the larger screen today the world bids farewell to Sean Connery, the first and in many people's opinion the best James Bond.  Earlier this year (I think - time has a way of stopping and starting, these days) we watched some of the earlier James Bond movies made before they became all about special effects at the expense of the plot, and honestly.....some of the bedroom scenes are almost non-consensual by today's standards, aren't they?  It makes for slightly uncomfortable viewing now, when once we would have shaken it off.  The world has moved on.

"No matter what may go wrong, a hostess should never seem to notice it to the annoyance of her guests.  By passing it over herself, it will very frequently escape the attention of others.  If her guests arrive late, she should welcome them as cordially as if they had come early, but she will commit a rudeness to those who have arrived punctually, if she awaits dinner for tardy guests for more than the fifteen minutes of grace prescribed by custom."

In other words, don't be late without a very very good excuse.

Enjoy your days!