Turns out I'm not such a wuss, after all

No, indeed.  The figures for May were released a few days ago, and our town had its coldest average minimum May temperature for over 100 years.  We were even named in the article.  It was also the driest May since 1998, not a record we wish to break; some rain would be welcome, but no doubt it will fall in its own sweet time.

So....the week has been taken up with the usual pursuits, stitches were knitted (my jumper is coming along really well), more stitches were sewn on the machine (some blue and green blocks were made), words were read (because who doesn't like to switch off from the world by getting immersed in a book?), diamonds were joined during my volunteer time at a gallery, and notes were plinked and sung, but the room we use for choir was getting a much-needed refurbishment so no choral singing was possible.

The blue and green blocks are coming along nicely.  Thoughts will be thought about its name.

This week's finished blocks, squares on top, rectangles below.  My first block count turned out to be incorrect; I had thought that 21 rectangles and 31 squares were needed, but another count today confirms that 24 rectangles is the final number.  The squares required are still the same, 31.  The blocks fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, some rectangles are set vertically and some horizontally, which makes counting a bit tricky - there are no instructions, I'm working from a picture found online.  Another six rectangles are still to be made, and another eight squares, then laying out the blocks can be done.

The last of the pics taken at the National Rock Garden in Canberra.  This is Hawkesbury sandstone - the carved design would make a good quilting design, yes?

Many of the remaining buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s in the Big Smoke - Sydney - are made from this stone, as it relatively soft and easy to carve.  The elaborate detail so beloved of the Victorians was not too difficult to achieve.

Many of the buildings are decorated with carvings and statues, some of which look a bit overdone to our modern eyes.  However, there is no denying the skill required to make them.  Many years ago we were visiting one of Sydney's historic sites which was having maintenance work done and were pleased that they were using trainee stonemasons, a skill which is changing with time.  Older buildings need maintenance, so those skills will be in demand for a long time.

Some towns are starting to realise that those so-called "old" skills are still interesting - Bendigo is one - I would love to attend one of these.  Our local Historical Society is having its Spring Fair in September, and I have been asked to demonstrate again on one of my 1920s Singer treadle machines.  I have done so twice and it has always generated interest; many people have memories of such a machine in their family...."Mum's auntie had one but I wasn't allowed to touch it" etc.......but not many can remember seeing the machine being used.  I'm sure I could find fabric in my stash to make something......just maybe.....

The afternoon has flown by and there is a song waiting to be arranged, so before we say farewell for another week let's look at the etiquette book.  As Etiquette of the Street is now finished we move on to Shopping Etiquette:

"In inquiring for goods at a shop, do not say to salesman "I want" such an article, but, "Please show me" such an article, or some other polite form of address."

Yes indeed.  An expression which makes me grit my teeth and want to slap the person using it (including our son in Canberra) is "can I grab", as in "can I grab a coffee" to the staff at a café.  What's wrong with "May I please order a coffee"?

Enjoy your days!

It is freakin' cold

It is colder than freezy frosty chilly.  Record-breaking cold temperature cold.  It is downright nasty out there, which is why I'm in here by the fire with coffee brewing.  I'm not silly. 

Progress on the rattled down jumper front:

The cable design is called, very imaginatively, 'Wide cable panel'.....which it is, being 20 stitches wide with eight rows for each pattern repeat.  That makes the centre panel 51 stitches wide, and it is progressing quite quickly.  I am hoping that the vertical panel will make me appear both slimmer and taller but I fear that, at my age and stage of life, both of those hopes are doomed to fail.

Oh well.  It will be warm, at least.

During the week I took my $10 birthday voucher, trotted off to the Big Fabric and Homewares Superstore (which I won't name because they don't pay me to advertise but Aussies will know who it is), and found Just The Very Thing for the backing of my green and blue quilt.

Different shades of green with some blue swirled in.  I had hoped to find a green and blue print but had no fixed preference as to design, although abstract was preferred to a realistic print.  This fits the bill nicely.  At quilt group yesterday I made the odd (slightly smug) comment that my challenge for the year was progressing well....it's coming along nicely, I said.....quite enjoying making it, I said.....

Some blocks have been made, and more have been cut.  A decision about binding is yet to be made but I am thinking perhaps a pieced binding, something I have never done before.  Quilting hasn't been decided on either - it may be sent out for quilting, or I may have a go myself.  This backing fabric would be a good one to try free-motion quilting from the back, wouldn't it?  I might think about that.  Maybe.

This morning's market gig went off well although I don't recommend singing early on a very cold morning; some of our higher notes were a bit thin.  Fortunately we were warm inside the hall; we had fun, and our audience said nice things to us and about us.  We suspect that some of them may have driven home singing "Seven little girls sittin' in the back seat....." so now you can all sing it too.

Diamonds have been joined.  Words have been read.  Stitches have been both knitted and sewn, as you see.  Words were plinked and sung.  Time has progressed in its usual way, and here we are at the end (or the beginning, depending on how your calendar is printed) of another week.

Am I the only person who finds it annoying that everywhere we go, every purchase we make - or so it sometimes seems - we are afterwards contacted and asked "How do you rate our service?"  I let those messages drift by me out to cyberspace somewhere, and ignore them.  If I have a problem, I will tell you.  If I am thrilled to bits about you, I will tell everyone I know how wonderful you are.  That's my best offer, take it or leave it.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Passing before a lady.

When a lady wishes to enter a house or room, if a gentleman accompanies her, he should hold the door open and allow her to enter first, if practicable; for a gentleman must never pass before a lady anywhere if he can avoid it, or without an apology."

That courtesy seems to be a thing of the past in many places, doesn't it?  Many gentlemen still hold the door, but not everyone does.

Enjoy your days!

Rattling it down

Many years ago - many many years - a Scottish woman where I worked referred to pulling knitting undone as "rattling it down".  "I had to rattle it down to fix the mistake", she would say.  Well, I have been rattling my knitting down.....the cable on the front of my jumper was proceeding nicely when I noticed a mistake several rows back, so off I went a-rattling.  It has now been rectified and can proceed, but that will teach me to be careful about keeping track of where I'm up to; over the years I have knitted far more complicated cables than this one, and they always work out in the end.  

That jumper may be needed this winter!  The weather has turned freezy frosty chilly with frosty morning and (mostly) sunny days, although today is grey with a nasty wind blowing.  Inside is definitely the best place to be.

A few days ago Kevin took the secateurs to the bottle brush just outside the garage.  It's been getting ideas above its station and taking over its small part of the universe, so he cut back some of the foliage that was starting to encroach on the garage door.  Don't throw it away, I said, we'll enjoy it inside - and we are.  It's from Western Australia, and is called 'Kings Park Special'.

The day we came home from Tooraweenah we looked back at The Warrumbungles, and although it was a misty view that morning it's still an amazing vista.

Another rock from our Canberra trip.  This is from Victoria, from the Central Goldfields, an area which has seen a lot of gold mining.  Members of my family lived there back in the 1860s.

The note on this plaque pointing out "This specimen contains no gold" is in response to a robbery several years ago, when the original top rock was stolen.

It's not something you can hoist up with one hand!  It would have taken some heavy machinery to lift and remove it, and more than one person too.....a pity such enterprising people couldn't have put their 'talents' to better use, isn't it.

Words have been read, notes have been plinked and sung, practicing for next Sunday morning's market gig,  A little hand piecing has happened, but no machine piecing; the day is not yet over, far from it, but I don't hold out any great hopes.  Never mind.  Stitches have been knitted, both before and after the aforementioned rattling down, and the chosen cable design will suit very well.

My baby wombat picture is now in a framing shop.  A frame has been chosen, and two different mat boards will compliment both the picture and the frame, and my little baby should be home again at the end of next month.  Some of the components had to be ordered as they weren't in stock; I suppose framing shops can't keep huge quantities of every colour board and wooden frame, but I eagerly await my baby's return home.

The funeral for our choir member went off as well as these things do.  We do have some other older members, although Wally had been our oldest - but Bonnie is 93, so one day we may be called upon for a repeat performance.

A couple of much-appreciated comments have been left on my blog recently, but for some reason they haven't arrived in my inbox so haven't been replied to - if you think I'm ignoring you, I'm not!  Thank you for visiting, and I hope you will come again.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Walking with a lady acquaintance.

A gentleman should not join a lady acquaintance on the street for the purpose of walking with her, unless he ascertains that his company would be perfectly agreeable to her.  It might be otherwise, and she should frankly say so, if asked."

She should.  No gentleman worth of the name would force his attentions on a lady of his acquaintance, would he?

Enjoy your days!

Green calm below, blue quietness above

Isn't that lovely?  It comes from the writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, an American writer.  It turned up when I looked for quotes about green and blue together, and could make a suitable name for my green and blue quilt.  Here are some finished blocks, some cut ready to be sewn, and lots more luscious fabrics waiting to be chopped up.

It has made me realise that more of my greens are on the yellow side of the spectrum than the blue side.  Several blocks have been made, and more will be cut - it is turning out to be quite a fun project!

This week has seen me turning a year older.  My birthday was on Tuesday so we went out to lunch - I always enjoy a meal I haven't had to cook - and we even let our hair down with a glass of bubbly too.  I am feeling more ancient with every passing year.....

When we had breakfast with our son while visiting Canberra he gave me an early birthday gift, a beautiful print of a sleeping baby wombat by Alison Dickin.  We have a couple of framing places here so it will soon be taken to get framed; I am thinking perhaps a narrow pale wood, but will see what choices are on offer,

A couple more pics from our visit to the National Rock Garden.  Don't you think a large slab of this limestone, cut and polished, would make a dramatic wall?

Such a shame that the explanatory plaques have been scratched by small-minded people who need to find a more suitable outlet for their so-called 'creativity'.

This Metasomatite was possibly my favourite.  Close up there are many colours in it, and they are more subtle than the limestone above.  

It's quite old, too.  It's even older than I am.

Words have been read, diamonds have been stitched.  Notes have been plinked and sung.  Knitting has been knitted and pulled undone again, because I didn't like how the cable was turning out.  Another cable was found in one of my stitch dictionaries, less ornate than my original choice, but I think it will serve well.  Eventually a final choice will be made, and there will be much rejoicing.

In the morning the choir will be singing at the funeral of one of our long-time members who died recently, aged 95.  A month before Christmas he went into palliative care, we thought that was the beginning of the end - but he rallied, and went home!  However, given his age we knew this day would inevitably come so at his wife's request (she is also a choir member) we have been rehearsing the 23rd Psalm, and tomorrow we will honour our old friend with our voices.

Our little taste of winter has been just that, a little taste, and now we are in the 'cool nights and mornings followed by lovely sunny days' part of autumn.  We know it won't last, but will enjoy it while it does.  Leaves are changing, our few frosty mornings have obviously given them the "it's time now" signal, and finally we can enjoy the beauty of autumn.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Fulfilling an engagement.

When on your way to fill an engagement, if a friend stops you on the street you may, without committing a breach of etiquette, tell him of your appointment, and release yourself from any delay that may be occasioned by a long talk; but do so in a courteous manner, expressing regret for the necessity."

It is good to be courteous.  How many of us, I wonder, have used the "sorry, can't stop, I have an appointment" excuse to get away from someone?  

Enjoy your days!

We are home....the caravan is home....and all is well

For which we are thankful.  

The van had its broken spring fixed in Tooraweenah, for which many grateful thanks to the manager of the caravan park, Scott, and to Paul, a fellow visitor, who was 'volunteered' by Scott to help!  The tyre damaged by the broken spring has also been replaced, and our little van is now once more chugging along happily.

As a bonus - just a few doors along from the mechanic who replaced the tyre, there is a quilt shop!  How good is that!  Another piece of blue fabric came home with me after that stopover, fabric which looks like the night sky; very appropriate as Coonabarabran is an important centre for astronomy.  We also found a coffee shop tucked away at the back of a women's clothing shop, so while we waited for the tyre to be replaced we had a very good coffee and a very yummy chocolate cake (for Kevin) and freshly made that morning Monte Carlo bikky (for me), both of which were delicious.

We had a day to spare in Tooraweenah as the spring was fixed the afternoon we arrived and we had booked ourselves in for two nights, so the following day we did the touristy thing and went for a Nice Sunday Drive (on Wednesday) to visit an emu farm, Emu Logic.  Don't you love their 'welcome to our shop' emu?

Emus are quite large.

Young emus aren't quite as big....you can see the blue skin on the face of this one.

We were told that once the female emu had laid her eggs, she is off and away.  "Bye, Fred, it's been nice, but I have better things to do with my life than raise your chicks....."so the male incubates the eggs and looks after the striped chicks when they hatch.  The females can be quite aggressive to other emus, even to their own chicks.  Talk about women's lib!

A comparison of eggs.  The ostrich egg on the right is the largest, the emu egg next to it is still fairly big.  We were told that it takes 45 minutes to hard-boil one emu egg!

The farm dog, whose name we didn't get.  Anyone who throws her red ball is her New Best Friend, a label now applied to both of us.

I couldn't resist a souvenir of Tooraweenah Caravan Park!  Painted by Janelle, the manager's wife, whose paintings add a lot of fun to walls around the park.  Emus are ripe for caricature, while the background colours remind me of a cloudless summer sunset.

After that extended adventure we now feel that our holiday is finally over, and we can settle back into normality.

Winter has arrived - we didn't quite get the 'warm' welcome home we had expected!  The fire has been alight for a few days and we even had frost yesterday morning, with more forecast in coming days.  

Today is the 13th anniversary of the day we shook the dust of the Big Smoke off our feet and moved into this house.  Although we lived in our previous house for 23 years it is now but a distant memory, and it feels like we have been here forever.  It's been a good move.

Words have been read, notes have been plinked and sung.  Diamonds have been joined, blue and green fabrics have been cut out including some of the new holiday blues shown in the last post.  Stitches have been knitted, and now the placement for the cable pattern on the front of my jumper can be worked out.  That's about it for my week...how about yours?

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Crossing the street with a lady.

If a gentleman is walking with a lady who has his arm, and they cross the street, it is better not to disengage the arm, and go round on the outside.  Such effort evinces a palpable attention to form, and that is always to be avoided."

Of course it is.

Enjoy your days!

We are back - but the caravan is still on holiday

We had a great time, marred only by a mechanical problem with the van the day before we were due home.  However.....the necessary part has been sourced which we will be taking back over the highway this week, and hopefully it will be home with us where it belongs later this week.

It was lovely catching up with family and friends.  Our son is doing well; we were able to attend one of his performances, something which, living so far away, we can't do very often, and which we enjoyed.  The One And Only Grandkid is shooting up like the proverbial weed and already up to (possibly even slightly past) my shoulders; mind you, I'm not very tall!  To me, however, the joy of playing and sharing music again with friends at the folk festival, some of them not seen for four years, was the highlight of my time away.....but, after so long, everyone looks so much older and several people were missing.

Over the years, on our annual trips to Canberra, we have seen many of its attractions, including the autumn colours - which, this year, were more beautiful than we have seen for many years.  Perhaps that was helped by their mild cool summer.....April was certainly cool this year!  One place we hadn't been before was the National Rock Garden.

Although the sign says "proposed future site" there are already several large rocks in place.  We counted 11.

This is from Western Australia, such a rich red.

A little information which hopefully can be read.

Doesn't it look like a bird?  But no - it's a large chunk of grey norite, some of which has been cut away and polished to show the beauty inside its craggy exterior.

Adelong is a small town south of Canberra.

This is a view of The Warrumbungles, such a rugged interesting place, that we will pass again on our way to the van.

Our van is waiting for us at Tooraweenah, in the valley to the left in this pic......as the article in the link says, it's a very small town!  However it's in a beautiful area, and at night the stars have to be seen to be believed; not far away is an important observatory which is interesting to read about if you are into sky Stuff.  The drive from here is about three hours.

Of course a little fabric shopping happened.....a few blues, and a gorgeous yellowish-green that just jumped into my hand.....

There is a blue and green project in progress in my sewing room, and my stash of blue fabrics needed a boost.  These will help nicely.

Some knitting happened while travelling, the second sleeve of my jumper is finished and the front is started.  A few diamonds were joined, words were read.  Crosswords were completed.  Plinking and singing were indulged in.  Once we return with our hopefully fixed caravan on Thursday, normal life (such as it is) can resume at Chez Wombats.

Some new-to-us clothes were bought in Canberra, their op shops are excellent.  Those elusive black cropped pants, however, are still out in the wind somewhere.  Perhaps one day......one of the tops bought on a Canberra op shop foray has already been worn.  It was donned yesterday afternoon for a farewell to a much-loved member of our choir who is moving several hours away to be closer to family, and who will be much missed.  

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Two gentlemen walking with a lady.

When two gentlemen are walking with a lady in the street they should not both be on the same side of her, but one of them should walk upon the outside and the other upon the inside."

Yes indeed.  That way, she should feel protected on both sides.

Enjoy your days!

Back in a few weeks!

The car is being packed as I write this, we'll be off soon - back in late April.

Until then......

Enjoy your days!