Happy New Year!

We made it - it is now 2021, a new year after a very turbulent time last year.  Honestly, though - the world isn't suddenly going to improve because we flipped over a page on the calendar, is it?  Without even the benefit of a crystal ball I suspect that much of this year will be a repeat of last year.

Oh well.  We can each only do what we can to make our own little corner bearable, can't we?

The last houses of the old year......

......finished on New Year's Eve.  Two more have been cut out and wil be made this week.

We received a Christmas package from our son and his family down in Canberra, and one of the items was a bird feeder woven from grey-washed willow with a metal seed tray inside, and a bag of native bird seed.  

I had to take this from inside the house looking through a window - because you can bet your boots that, as soon as I opened the door to get a better picture, those rainbow lorikeets would have flown straight off.  It hangs in the we-think-it-was-an-apricot-tree which has now well and truly died off, but the birds love perching in the branches so we haven't removed it.  However, when it rains (which it has rather a lot lately) we bring the feeder onto the verandah.  The birds are still welcome to dine but they haven't yet done so, although we do have a few species (not these parrots) which dive and swoop under the roof looking for insects.

Did you all have a good Christmas?  Ours was quiet; we went to lunch at a nice restaurant, the food was excellent, the service let it down a couple of times, but overall it was very enjoyable.

It was followed a couple of days later by lunch with visiting friends at a town an hour away.  We don't miss living in the Big Smoke at all -we've been here over ten years now and wouldn't go back - but we do miss time with friends, so catching up with them is good especially as the folk festival we like attending won't be held until......we don't know when.  Certainly not at Easter, possibly not even later in the year.

I decided years ago not to bother with new year resolutions, and have been very good about sticking with that.  However each year I do have hopes, and this year there are a few hopeful projects to work on.  The handwork on the tumbler quilt is nearly all done so another project will be needed in to take to quilt group, which will mean taking a machine.  'Imprismed', being easy foundation piecing, will fill the bill nicely and I can work on more complex Stuff at home.  I could, of course, add the borders to the tumbler quilt by hand to keep it going......in my dreams......

Kevin's digging into his circus family history has been continuing, and we found about an incident which happened in 1923.  Blayney isn't very big now and was even smaller then when the circus under its owners Charles Perry and William Sole stopped to perform; Charles had just sold it to William who was married to Charles' sister Elizabeth, but had stayed on for a month or two to help.  They had set up in a paddock near the railway, it was 2nd June, early winter, and it was dark.  The electricity plant they used for lighting wasn't working so they brought out an acetylene gas generator.  It didn't work, they couldn't see where the problem was, someone struck a match to provide light......and boom.  Charles and William both died.  We found several newspaper reports of the tragedy, most of which make quite lurid reading.  Both men are buried in a single grave at Blayney cemetery so, if we are able to take our planned trip to Canberra in April as we hope (there's another of those Hopes), we will stop to pay our respects.  Charles and William both left adult children so Elizabeth, with her children and those of her brother, continued to run the circus.

Continuing on from last year:

"Wines at dinner.

If the guests should include one or more people of well-known temperance principles, in deference to the scruples of these guests, wines or liquors should not be brought to the table.  People who entertain should also be cautious as to serving wines at all.  It is impossible to tell what harm you may do to some of your highly esteemed guests.  It may be that your palatable wines may create an appetite for the habitual use of wines or stronger alcoholic liquors; or you may renew a passion long controlled and entombed; or you may turn a wavering will from a seemingly steadfast resolution to forever abstain.  This is an age of reforms, the temperance reform being by no means the least powerful of these, and no ladies or gentlemen will be censured or misunderstood if they neglect to supply their dinner table with wine; it may be on the sideboard, however, and guests may be asked whether they will partake of it."

No such thing as 'Mocktails' in those far-off days, were there?

Enjoy your days!

No matter where you are, and no matter what you celebrate.......

......best wishes for a season of peace, love, and good health.

And chocolate.  Lots and lots of good quality dark chocolate.

From the wombats and me......

Before today's storm hits.......

Of late it has been quite stormy, with more forecast for this afternoon and the next couple of days.  Every time there is a decent clap of thunder our internet goes off, thanks to the wonderful (not) system that the Ozzie government gave us some years ago.  Perhaps that's all they deem us worthy of.

Oh well.  Moving right along.

This week has been quite busy, so busy that I have barely set foot in the sewing room!  However two houses were made, taking the number of completed houses to 37......another 24 to go, as 61 are needed for the pattern.  No more are cut ready to be sewn, but that will be remedied in coming days.

A rainbow house, and a quiet house.  Not every house is a loud screamer, we need quiet neighbours too.

On the original quilt the outer setting triangles were made from lots and lots of red squares, but instructions are given in the book for cutting them from yardage.  I like the one-colour scrappy idea, so have decided to make mine from - of course! - green, so my houses will be surrounded by parkland.  The maths has been done; it will mean cutting lots and lots of 2-1/2 in green strips, then piecing and cross cutting and re-assembling, but it will be easy peasy sewing......and be worth the effort when done.  

Despite the busy week some stitches were made on the tumbler quilt, the centre panel of which is now two-thirds done.

Another end-of-year lunch on Wednesday, this time for my sewing group.  Two volunteer days, one at a gallery and one at a historical museum, an appointment or two......and the week sped by on wings.  The coming week looks to be a little calmer with a nice lunch to look forward to on Christmas Day, and another lunch with visiting friends next weekend.

Hard to believe that we are so close to the end of what has been a less-than-fabulous year, isn't it?  I don't think there will be many people who are sorry to bid farewell to 2020.

Kevin has been keeping himself amused of late by some family history research.  On his father's side there is a connection to a circus which toured Australia for over 100 years, Perry's Circus; his father's mother was Emily Perry, described as an "equestrienne" (she was a bare back rider), and his father's dad played in the circus band.  We took our boys to see the circus a couple of times when they were young, they were most impressed - imagine finding out, at about 6-8 years of age, that you were actually related to a lion trainer and being able to watch him in action!

Back in those days the house we lived in was not far from a park where the circus would set up, and the vet who treated our cat was nearby too.  One time when we mentioned our connection to the circus he told us that he had been contacted to ask about a 'home visit', to which he replied that he didn't do that, the animal would have to be brought to him.  "Ah - no, I think you had better come to us" was the reply.  One of the circus lions had an ingrown eyelash which needed treatment - he said he managed to get it sedated and treated, but also that it was a bit scary trying to sedate a lion while it glared at him balefully from the other side of the cage bars.

"Wines at dinner.

The menu of a dinner party is by some not regarded as complete, unless it includes one or more varieties of wine.  When used it is first served after soup, but any guest may, with propriety, decline being served.  This, however, must not be done ostentatiously.  Simply say to the waiter, or whoever pours it, "not any; thank you."  Wine, offered at a dinner party, should never be criticized, however poor it may be.  A person who has partaken of wine, may also decline to have the glass filled again."

Wise words to keep in mind during the party season, although I suspect that this year's party season will be tamer than in past years.
 

Enjoy your days!

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!