Have you ever heard of a Jumble Berry tree?

They must exist because earlier this year I bought a jar of Jumble Berry jam - a mix of blackberries, raspberries and strawberries - in our travels, and very nice it is too.  One of this week's trees could, therefore, be a Jumble Berry tree.

A blue fabric which was used in Summertime Blues, with a contrast of even more fruit - it is printed with olive fruits and leaves, so this must indeed be a very fruity tree.

The final fabric from the Big Basket, a warm brown which puts me in mind of oak leaves in autumn.  The contrast was used to make the first tree in the Arboretum, several months ago.

Numbers 85 and 86.  All trees from now will be made from newly purchased fabric; unfortunately some of the older batiks turned out to be unusable due to colour run damage from the flood several years ago, so the recently bought fabrics will make up for them.

Only 13 to go which is six more weeks of trees; the last week will see three trees made instead of the usual two.

How has everyone been this week?  It's been a fairly musical week here; yesterday the U3A ukulele group played for the local branch of Legacy and nice things were said to us and about us and about our choice of songs.  It is never easy to play outside, especially on what turned out to be a fairly warm day, but we managed.  We played on a low stage which fortunately had a roof over us to keep the sun directly off, but the sports ground where the day was held had absolutely no shade at that time of day.  Never mind; we performed, and we eventually recovered.

I really don't like playing outside, you know......remind me of that before I ever say that I will do it again......

Earlier in the week the U3A sign-on day was held, a day at the start of each term where members can put their names down for any of the courses or activities which interest them.  As I have done in the past I took along one of my ukes just for background music, something people have enjoyed in the past, and ended up giving a surprise impromptu concert for a visiting group of residents from a nursing home!

The new Monday group starts tomorrow.  I am planning to get away from the easy songs which the Thursday group love so much, and branch out into more interesting music; a few of us want to, so we will.  As group leader (which is my title) it gets frustrating when, on trying to bring more complex songs and music into the mix, one hears "oh, I can't do that....it's too hard....my fingers hurt...I can't play that chord....." so to have people who are enthusiastic about 'new and different' is a refreshing change.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn and knitted.  Blades on both my rotary cutters were changed - why was it put off for so long?  Cutting fabric now is like slicing butter with a hot knife, it's effortless, so the inner borders for the house quilt are cut.  Songs were, of course, played and sung....and choir was back!  Yippee!!  Our poor leader has been struggling with a bad respiratory infection for a few weeks so couldn't sing (he could barely talk) but the rest of us made up for him.  We foraged and hunted to avert starvation, so that was about the week that was.

Now, let us think of matrimony.

"Proposals of marriage.

Roles in regard to proposals of marriage cannot be laid down, for they are and should be as different as people.  The best way is to apply to the lady in person, and receive the answer from her own lips.  If courage should fail a man in this, he can resort to writing, by which he can clearly and boldly express his feelings.  A spoken declaration should be bold, manly and earnest, and so plain in its meaning that there can be no misunderstanding.  As to the exact words to be used, there can be no set formula; each proposer must be governed by his own ideas and sense of propriety in the matter."

A man with a sense of propriety is a Good Thing.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Trees within a tree

More fabrics have been bought.

On Friday a trip was undertaken an hour north to Armidale, because Armidale has two quilt shops.  One has quite contemporary fabrics and is run by a young bloke whose machine quilting is amazing and wins prizes - I spoke to him about my house quilt as I plan to have him work on it - but has no batik fabrics.  However, the other shop more than made up for that.

Aren't these fun fabrics?  A few are Aussie native flowers....the orange/red with yellow grevilleas fourth from the right, and the two on the far right which have eucalypt blossoms although they are both quite different....and, of course, some green.  With what was bought recently, that should be enough to make the required trees.

I also bought fabric for backing, a black and white  print of Callistemon flowers, otherwise known as Bottle Brushes.  We have a few growing in our garden, but ours aren't black and white.

The maple leaf fabric planned for binding suits well, and adds colour contrast.  As many of the fabrics came from Australia and some came from Canada, the backing ties down the links between those two countries quite nicely.  Perhaps it can be a Canaussian Arboretum.

So onto this week's trees....a pinkish-beige with enough life in the print to stop it looking like a blob of indeterminate colour, paired with a goldish-pinkish-berry-grape contrast.

A green tree with more trees in the contrast, so....trees within a tree.

That makes 83 and 84.  Those new fabrics were purchased at just the right time, because next week's two trees will use the last of the already-in-the-stash fabrics.

How has everyone been this week?  We mooched along as usual; went for our Nice Sunday Drive to Armidale on Friday which we quite enjoyed, but which gave my ears trouble coming back down into our valley (reminding me why we don't go up the hills more often); and we hunted, gathered and foraged to keep the wolf from the door.  Stitches were sewn and knitted.  Songs have not yet been sung because our choir leader is still unwell, but I have high hopes for next Thursday afternoon.  Many words have been read.  Some household chores have been attended to.

We are getting adjusted to daylight saving.  Today's forecast is for possible showers later which would be welcome, as things have been somewhat dry of late.  Kevin is watching the Bathurst car race on TV and it seems to be pouring rain down there; we betook ourselves for a spin (not literally!) around the track earlier in the year.  As a boy racer in his younger days he would have enjoyed not being limited to only 60 kms an hour, but he was very good and stuck strictly to the speed limit.

Despite a wet start to that day it was dry when we had our trip round the track.  This is the car we sold a few months ago.....I have suggested that we take the new(ish) car for a whirl next time we're in the area, too.

My house quilt has been calling, lately.  In my stash of black and white fabrics is one from several years ago of little cat footprints in black on white which I have decided to use for a one inch wide inner border.....so it is on the cutting table waiting its turn for the cutter.  The quilt also needs trimming before the borders are sewn on, so perhaps that should be done first.  Decisions, decisions......it was coming along nicely early last year before I fell and broke my arm, so it had to be shelved for a while.  It's now time it came off the shelf.

For nearly 30 years now I have been a member of an online quilt group, and recently an interstate member posted that she was coming to a local town for work.  We arranged to meet up last week for dinner at a local pub in a village between the town where she was working and here, and what a fun evening that was!  She asked if I would take along my tree blocks as she had seen my pics online, so I did....we had fun going through them.....and now she, too, is making trees, spreading the tree love over more forests.

"Another requisite for conjugal happiness is moral and religious sympathy, that each may walk side by side in the same path of moral purpose and social usefulness, with joint hope of immortality."

Probably.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A cactus or a tree?

 They are not the same - cactus aren't classed as trees, they are a different species altogether.  However, one has snuck in with my trees, so it can stay there.

A desert cactus......

And an autumn foliage tree.

Two very different trees this week, numbers 81 and 82.  Only 17 to go!

During the week I managed to fit in a visit to the local quilt shop where I found a few batik fabrics to add to the stash.

No doubt they will make excellent trees.  

Every now and then this pic comes up on the computer.  It was taken at Butchart Gardens back in November 2012; we were visiting with friends, and their car was parked in front of a tree which was busy dropping leaves.  The fallen leaves put me in mind of some of my batik fabrics.

If you have ever visited Butchart Gardens you will know how beautiful they are - if you haven't been and the opportunity arises to go, take it.  It is a never-to-be-forgotten experience at any time of year.

How has everyone been this week?  We have managed to survive a whole week with no medical visits necessary, for which we are thankful.  Hunting and foraging, as usual, filled in some time.  Stitches have been sewn and knitted.  Words have been read.  Sadly no notes have been sung; I was all geared up for choir on Thursday afternoon but received a message from the director earlier in the week to say there would be no choir on Thursday.  So......now I am doubly eager for this coming Thursday to roll around!

Last night daylight saving began, so our clocks (body clocks, and horological clocks) will take a few days to re-adjust.  I don't mind daylight saving, although there are those (a couple of women in my quilt group come to mind) who are vociferous in their dislike - nay, hatred - of it, but why waste energy?  There is nothing they can do about it; it is here to stay having started over 50 years ago in our state, so all their moaning and whingeing won't make it go away.  Not being a morning person, particularly not being an early morning person, means I don't mind darker mornings so it doesn't bug me too much.

Over 20 years ago we were visiting southern Queensland in summer.  Queensland doesn't have daylight saving, and it was a great shock when the mornings were getting light at about 4 a.m.!  At that stage we had been used to daylight saving for well nigh on 30 years, so our bodies had adjusted to it.  We stayed in Toowoomba, a nice town, which seemed to close down at about 5 p.m.....which is no wonder, when it's daylight again not long afterward......

We are having a quiet long weekend lying low.  There is a massive footy (i.e. rugby league) carnival taking place in our town with thousands upon thousands of visitors, so we are keeping out of it.  It's the annual Labour Day weekend which can often be busy, but a peaceful day suits us.  Workers - stonemasons - in Victoria, Australia, were the first in the world to achieve an 8-hour working day, so that's something to celebrate.

"Mutual trust and confidence are other requisites for happiness in married life.  There can be no true love without trust.  The responsibility of a man's life is in a woman's keeping from the moment he puts his heart into her hands.  Without mutual trust there can be no real happiness."

This is probably so.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Finally....unstressed trees!

Things are proceeding well on the injured hand.  It can now be left uncovered to enjoy the fresh air, and is enjoying its freedom - as is its owner, and as am I.

Consequently the stress has pretty much disappeared, so this week's trees are stress-free.

First, a lime tree with what could be berries.....

....I'm not sure if one can grow blue, red and purple berries on one tree, but this tree does.

This puts me in mind of a creeper growing against a rusty metal fence, so perhaps it's not ~quite~ a tree.

Although I still like it.

Numbers 79 and 80, how good is that?  Only 19 to go; at two a week, and three in the last week, that makes nine weeks' worth of trees left.

This fabric will be used for binding.  It was bought on our last trip to Canada and is from the same range as the border fabric on my Canadian quilt.  It was made in red and black (the border fabric is red and black), red and red (which I liked, but the black/red contrast appealed more for the border), blue and black, and gold and black.  As it was well into autumn by then, the gold had to come home with me.

I couldn't remember how much had been purchased - turned out to be half a metre, more than enough for binding.  Decisions still need to be made on backing, but as there also need to be more fabrics bought - eight or nine or so, not many - an eye can be run over the batik choices in the local quilt shop.  If she doesn't have anything which appeals to me, there is another shop in a town an hour north.

Today is an early taste of summer warmth.  The bluebells (which we didn't plant) have joined with the snowdrops (which we also didn't plant) flowering in the back yard, and their (mostly) annual flowering is a delight.  The huge port wine magnolia in the front yard is flowering this year because we have had good rain; it doesn't flower at all in dry years, and the flowers are fairly undistinguished anyway, but oh - their scent is wonderful.

How has everyone been this week?  We spent time at the medical centre having Kevin's hand checked - thank goodness those visits have now ceased, although I achieved quite a lot of waiting-time knitting - and we managed the usual hunting and foraging.  Words were read, stitches were sewn and knitted.  Sighs of relief have been heaved at the thought of no more medical Stuff for some time.  

Songs were plinked and sung, and my tenure as leader of the Thursday U3A ukulele is now over.  In a few weeks I will taking up my new position as leader of the new Monday group instead, and best of all....next Thursday I can go back to choir after having to miss two long months, something I am really looking forward to.

We are, I hope, nearing the last of the annual footy season, although these days it seems to go on for most of the year.  Time was when cricket was the main summer sport, and various styles of footy were played in the cooler months, but not so much now.  I find myself wishing that they would disappear from our screens forever, I don't watch them; boofy blokes kicking/throwing/hitting a ball around doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.  Kevin is welcome to watch with the sound turned off, as we can't stand the commentary either.  As for motor racing....well, you can see what's happening, you don't need the screaming of the cars, the spectators and the commentators, do you?

We find ourselves turning the TV off more than it's on.  We don't do streaming as we can't see the point in paying for things we wouldn't watch; both of us grew up in the era before television took over everyone's lives, so we don't mind just having music instead.  Let's face it, when one considers the dross available on the screen these days, it's no great loss.

"Another condition of domestic happiness is intellectual sympathy.  Man requires a woman who can make his home a place of rest for him, and woman requires a man of domestic tastes.  While a woman who seeks to find happiness in a married life will never consent to be wedded to an idler or a pleasure-seeker, so a man of intelligence will wed none but a woman of intelligence and good sense.  Neither beauty, physical characteristics nor other external qualifications will compensate for the absence of intellectual thought and clear and quick comprehensions.  An absurd idea is held by some that intelligence and domestic virtues cannot go together; that an intellectual woman will never be content to stay at home to look after the interests of her household and children.  A more unreasonable idea has never been suggested, for as the intellect is strengthened and cultured, it has a greater capacity of affection, of domesticity and of self-sacrifice for others."

Times have changed, haven't they?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Less stressed trees

Less stress is good.  Kevin's hand is still healing (it was quite a bad injury) so the medical appointments are less frequent than they were, although they haven't yet ceased; the bulky bandage has been removed and it's now down to a large adhesive dressing.  He is relieved.  

Because he is complaining less, I am also relieved.  I might even get that long-awaited rest soon.

As a result, this week's trees are not quite as stressed as the past couple of weeks' were.  A slightly muddy brown, with green contrast.....

.....and a clear bright orange.  Both the orange fabric and the blue contrast are left over from Summertime Blues.

Numbers 77 and 78.  It probably doesn't matter which is which - and that only leaves 21 to go!

The conclusion has been reached that there might not be enough fabrics to make 99 different trees, so I might need to go shopping....gosh darn, what a shame.....several of the fabrics which were used for contrasts are too small to make a tree, while others are tone on tone fabrics which, while they made excellent thin trunks and branches, don't have enough variety of print or colour for a tree.  The result would end up looking like a blob of one colour, something I am trying to avoid.  

There is no weekly wattle pic today because flowering has finished for the year, but many branches have new growth on them, which augurs well for next year's flowering.

How has everyone been this week?  We have been well (apart from Kevin's hand); stitches have been sewn and knitted, one sleeve is finished and work is progressing well on the second sleeve, thanks to all those medical visits.  One sits and waits....so one knits......  Words have been read.  Songs have been plinked and sung, and there is one more Thursday ukulele left - so then I will be able to go back to choir!  One of the choir members was at last Sunday's historical museum day, and asked me when was I coming back....we miss you, she said....I miss you too, I said, I'll be back soon.

Being the current chauffeur, I am getting plenty of experience driving the new(ish) car.  I'm not a confident driver, in fact I don't really care much at all for driving, I only drive because it's quicker than walking.  It's not helped by the fact that Kevin used to be a instructor of advanced driving techniques.  I don't like driving with him beside me, as he's very critical of other drivers.  Super critical, in fact.  He knows I don't like having him as a passenger so he doesn't say much but I can hear his brain ticking over with what he's not saying, just the same.  Last Wednesday the doctor said no driving yet, we'll see what this week brings.

We are heading toward the spring equinox which, so my reading informs me, will be at 4.19 a.m. on Tuesday 23rd September.  I won't be getting up for it, it will just have to pass me by.  We are finishing the last few days of winter with rain - Friday night was very rainy - and slightly cooler temps than earlier in the week, so cool in fact that there is soup simmering in the slow cooker as we speak.  Early in the winter I made a batch of chicken stock which, because it doesn't contain preservatives and suchlike Stuff, needs to be used within a reasonable time frame; the last container of it is now adding flavour to butternut squash, and onion, and green Thai curry paste, with light coconut milk being added during the blending process.

"It must be remembered that husband and wife, after marriage, have social relations to sustain, and perhaps it will be discovered, before many months of wedded life have passed, when there is a social inequality, that one of the two have made a sacrifice for which no adequate compensation has been or ever will be received.  And so both lives become soured and spoiled, because neither receives nor can receive the sympathy which their efforts deserve, and because their cares are multiplied from a want of congeniality.  One or the other may find that the noble qualities seen by the impulse of early love were but the creation of an infatuated fancy, existing only in the mind where it originated.

Well, yes.  This is probably so.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Slightly late slightly stressed trees

Much of yesterday was spent at a museum sewing, and singing and playing ukulele, and talking to people about sewing and about singing and Stuff......and another visit to the emergency department in the evening to have Kevin's hand checked because it was swollen....and that was my yesterday.  Today, however, is another day.

This week's trees, one which reflects the now-darker wattle.....

....and one which looks like interesting petroglyphs.  Some sort of glyphs, anyway.

Both reverse trees.  It's interesting to see how fabrics change according to the other fabrics they are partnered with.  There are now 76 trees, the same as the number of trombones in the well-known song.

Yesterday's time at the historical museum produced one bag; two were cut out and went along with me, one was started and completed.   The other will be made up on a day that I just feel like some mindless sewing

The white lines are straight but to fit it in a photograph it needed to be bent a little, hence the wiggly lines.  I'm not sure that I love it enough to want to keep it but my friend was admiring it yesterday, so it might be gifted to her.

The weekly wattle.  As you can see the bright lemon colour is darkening; we had rain during the week, and those little fluffy yellow balls were heavy with the weight of water.  They have since popped up again.

The colour, however, has changed for the season.

Kevin's hand is, we hope, healing.  The last stitches were removed on Friday but a close eye is still being kept on it by the medical people.  As directed by the hospital people ("see your regular doctor in a week") we duly trotted along last Tuesday, and indeed every day for the following four days.  We will be back again this afternoon at 4p.m. - we should have had a reprieve from medical visits over the weekend, but Kevin's hand had other ideas - and possibly several more times this week.  At last night's visit the hand was unwrapped, checked....not too bad, you can wait to see a doctor if you think you need to, but it will be several hours' wait.....re-wrapped by the nurse who didn't think it needed to be seen by a doctor, thank goodness...so we will see what is said this afternoon.  It doesn't feel too bad he says.  That's good, I says.  Have you ever tried to keep an old bloke from doing things?  It's not easy, let me tell you.  I do let him put the car in and out of the garage, magnanimous person as what I am.

The historical museum yesterday was fun.  The house is called 'Calala Cottage' and this year celebrates 150 years since it was built, so of course the ukulele players sang 'Happy Birthday' with the audience joining in.  The Cunning Plan had been to take one of my 1920s Singer treadle machines along but, as Kevin's hand didn't lend itself to taking apart, carrying and re-assembling a heavy machine twice, I came up with the idea of taking my 1950 Singer Featherweight 221 instead.  It's still an old machine albeit 75 years old rather than 98, but as it's so small and easy to manage it was the right decision - and it still generated a lot of interest.  A couple of women said "oh, a Featherweight!" so of course we chatted about them, and even a few older blokes talked about their memories of learning to sew by hand and by machine as children; one man in particular was very interesting.  I didn't mind the chats; if no one was interested in the machine and what I was doing I could have accomplished more, but it wouldn't have been as much fun.

In fact, it's been such a busy week that I still haven't had that rest......

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn and knitted - my knitting now goes with me every time we get in the car, because we never know how long these medical appointments are going to take....one sleeve is nearly completed, and the other has been started.  Many songs have been plinked and sung, and yesterday's audience enjoyed our offerings; a few of the U3A folk had never performed in public before but did very well, and our audience said nice things to us and about us.

"Requirements for a happy marriage.

Respect for each other is as necessary to a happy marriage as that the husband and wife should have an affection for one another.  Social equality, intellectual sympathy, and sufficient means are very important matters to be considered by those who contemplate matrimony."

Well, yes.  To which I would add, to be happy to drive each other to medical appointments.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A couple of slightly stressed trees

Because it's been a slightly stressful week.

Firstly, the happy stuff....two trees were made.  A green tree with blue spots which could be raindrops, because we certainly had our share of rain last month.

Every Arboretum needs a blue and green spotted tree, yes?  The contrast is interesting; on its own it is a slightly pinkish tan, but set inside the bright green fabric it looks brown.

This bright fabric wasn't wide enough to cut the 6-1/2 in by 9 in piece for a tree....but it was wide enough to cut two, 3-1/4 in by 9 in pieces and join them using a contrast trunk.  Pat on the back for me too, because I even managed blend the foliage design.  The blue and green fishy print makes a fun contrast.

This week's trees, 73 and 74.  We won't quibble about which is which.

The weekly wattle.  It's difficult to get a close-up on a windy day as those thin branches wave and dance with every puff of air, but I managed.

How has everyone been this week?  We attended the anniversary morning tea at the library on Monday, and Hizzoner duly delivered his waffling rambling (fortunately not over-long, but long enough) speech.  I believe that councillors undertake some media training upon being elected; the mayor has been on council for over 30 years, so perhaps a refresher course would be a Useful Thing.  He and I did not need to speak so the dilemma of what to address him shall, for the foreseeable future at least, remain unresolved.

While there I was introduced to a woman named Joyce, "she's 90, you know".....Joyce started working at the library a few years after I left and continued there for several years.  Every time we hove in sight (or earshot) of Joyce we heard "I'm 90, you know....."  

The following day, Tuesday, was one of my two monthly quilt group days but as my tummy had been feeling a little unhappy for a few days, I decided to stay home.  Kevin wanted to catch up with a few things down town, so took the car and drove off.  Some time later, just as I was about to settle down for a rest, I answered a knock on the door which turned out to be the wife of a café manager.  Kevin had decided to treat himself to a coffee and, while walking from the car, tripped and sliced his hand open, it was bleeding profusely, so off we duly drove to the hospital.  Many hours later, several stitches in the hand, lots of padding and bandages, and we finally made it home again.  Back the next day just to get it checked - I'm not a medical person, I wasn't going to be the one to unwrap it - it was wrapped with new bandages, leave it on said the nurse, see your GP in a week to have the stitches removed, don't get it wet, etc., etc.  It's his right hand, and of course he's right handed, so all the chores which are usually split between two people are being done by one.  Never mind....it's my turn this year, Kevin did the chores last year when my arm was in plaster.

Over the past several years Kevin has developed what I call the Old Bloke Shuffle.  Have you noticed that old blokes don't pick up their feet?  I keep telling him to do so, you'll trip, I say......older women don't shuffle as much as blokes, perhaps because we wore higher heeled shoes in our younger days.  One cannot shuffle in a heel, even a low heel.  Old blokes are also likely, as is Kevin, to be taking blood thinners so a badly cut hand means pressing all sorts of panic buttons.

I still haven't had that rest......

Words have been read, stitches have been sewn and knitted.  (I wish I had taken my knitting or my hand-piecing to pass those interminable hours in hospital.)  Songs have been plinked and sung.  I hunted and gathered all by myself, and hey-ho, so passed the week, stress and all.

We have had some very pleasant mild days, but more rain is forecast for the coming week.  The washing is hanging out in the breezy sunshine as we speak; like many Ozzies I have never owned a dryer, something which to me seems like a useless extravagance.  We use a solar dryer - a wash line in the sun!

"An acceptable suitor.

Parents should always be able to tell from observation and instinct just how matters strand with their daughter; and if the suitor is an acceptable one and everything satisfactory, then, in this country, the most scrupulous rules of etiquette will not prevent their letting the young couple alone.  If the lover chooses to propose directly to the lady and consult her father afterwards he has a perfect right to do so.  If her parents have sanctioned his visits and attentions by a silent consent, he has a right to believe that his addresses will be favorably received by them."

You notice that many of these quotes refer to how the young woman should behave, and very few as to what the man should do?  The old double standard was alive and well in 1885.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer