Now for the next 50 years!

Here we are, home again after a fun three weeks.  It is said that travel broadens the mind....it certainly broadens the behind, because we sit a lot when travelling, don't we?

Anyway.....

We had a good time revisiting places from years past, and it's interesting to see changes since then.  The weather was mostly kind (we did have quite a cold change in Canberra but that's nothing new; fortunately we had warm jumpers with us) and there are photos to share.

Seen on the wall of a café in Tumut while sitting under cover out of light rain, a sentiment with which I heartily concur in these days of doom and gloom:

The coffee was good, and the munchies were excellent too; we took a couple of slices back to our accommodation to share later in the day.

The bathroom floor of our apartment in a beautifully renovated old house - the same design as my tumbling blocks currently being sewn, but with only three colours instead of many:

And yes, those are my feet in my gorgeous green sandals - which, believe it or not, started life as boring beige.  Green is much prettier than boring beige....just about anything is better than boring beige, actually.

Not the best pic ever taken, but there we were at the end of summer and there were still flowers on the wisteria shading the verandah - even though they were hiding behind leaves.  I'm not sure if they were late bloomers from last spring, or getting an early start for later in the year.

One day we drove from Tumut to Batlow where this interesting sculpture was on a park at the entrance to the town.  You can't see here - but it moves!  The whole 'leafy' top section swivels back and forth, while the individual 'branches' also twist and turn at the same time.

It's part of a sculpture trail; I was a little annoyed to find no information on the sculpture without having to scan a code and visit a website.  What's wrong with an information board near the sculpture itself?

Perhaps I'm just old......

We celebrated our anniversary with a very nice lunch at a Tumut pub.  When our server found out about our special occasion she insisted on gifting us our drinks, and also brought a special dessert for us to share.  Dark chocolate dipped strawberries, yummo.....cheesecake too.....the strawberries were beautifully ripe and very delicious.  It was a pleasantly warm day, fortunately nowhere near as hot as the day on which we were married 50 years earlier.

There are some more pics to show, which will make their way onto the blog in due course.

How have you all been over the past few weeks?  I hope to catch up with blogs over the next few days; we arrived home three days ago and have been busy unpacking, and sorting, and washing clothes, and putting Stuff away, etc.  You all know what happens at the end of a holiday, don't you.  Well, that's what we've been doing.  However, I think we are just about caught up, so normal life can resume next week.

While we were away stitches were knitted and sewn, and words read.  Some shopping was indulged in, and my supply of home-made jams should last for quite some time.  My wardrobe has been expanded by some op shop purchases including a brand-new-with-tags top from a well-known retailer, which will be quite useful.  A couple of fabrics shops were visited and a small - quite small - amount of shopping done in them.  Best of all, though, was time spent with family and friends.....The One And Only Grandkid is now a foofteenth of a smidgin taller than I am, and he's still only 11.

Today's quote will be continued next week, as it's fairly long.

"Breaking an engagement.

Sometimes it is necessary to break off an engagement.  Many circumstances will justify this.  Indeed, anything which may occur or be discovered which shall promise to render the marriage an unsuitable or unhappy one is, and should be, accepted as justification for such rupture.  Still, breaking an engagement is always a serious and distressing thing, and ought not to be contemplated without absolute and just reasons."

This is true.  I was told about events which, had I been given more notice, would have led to the engagement with the first husband being broken off....but just ten days before a wedding is not much notice, is it?  Especially when one is the only girl in the family, whose parents (particularly whose mother) had been looking to seeing their one and only daughter safely married off.  So the wedding continued, but the marriage did not.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Back in a few weeks

Next Friday - Friday 13th, but we're not superstitious - we will heading off on our travels down south.  There probably won't be opportunities to update the blog during that time, but we'll be back a few weeks later.  There will, I'm sure, be photo opportunities during our travels.

Consequently not much has happened this week.  More diamonds have been cut, some stitches knitted.  Songs were played and sung.  Appointments were kept.  Food was purchased.

Not having to pack a caravan has its advantages, and its disadvantages.  No more "there's plenty of room so this, that and the other can go in" thinking.....no; on the other hand we are more conscious of only taking what will be needed with no unnecessary extras.  And, of course, a ukulele.  

My brain has been itching, however, to get on with cutting green border fabrics for my house quilt, and to get those tree blocks laid out for Arboretum, and perhaps even to cut into the fabrics for that yellow quilt I have been wanting to make for nigh on 30 years......never mind; we will arrive home the day before Easter, so there will be opportunities for all that cutting and stitching.

But - we need a picture, so let's see what we can find.

Several years ago we spent Easter at the folk festival, then we stayed in Canberra for a few more weeks as our son and (now ex) DIL were away on their delayed honeymoon.  One Saturday morning I was reading the local paper and found that a local (local-ish) garden was open for inspection, so off we went.  It was a 40-45 minute drive east in some rather gorgeous country, and well worth it.

We paid our charity dollars at the gate, and in we went.  I don't even remember what the house looked like - it was not open - but the gardens were beautiful.  I'm not sure what this small tree was, possibly some sort of oak, but the leaves were very bright.

An area just outside the house had been set up as a small café where we enjoyed a coffee and admired the flowers on our table, large dahlias wearing their autumn dresses.

Lots of fallen leaves.......

......and a pond......

.....with a rose trellis......

'Nahema' has a wonderful scent.  If you look it up you can see that's it's a climbing rose which is quite spectacular when covered with blooms.

Here is a timely read for you.  Today is International Women's Day, and this article shows that much is still to be done to make a world in which women feel comfortable.  A woman is not just a shorter bloke with longer hair, there is much more to us than that; I'm not tall, about five foot two as the songs says (although I don't have eyes of blue) and I find many chairs are too high for me to rest my feet on the ground.....and I'm by no means the shortest woman I know.  Many years ago I read that anyone under five foot three inches tall finds most chairs too high.  That's certainly true.  The particularly galling part is that many medications given to women are not tested on them - too hard, say the medical scientist blokes, women have menstrual cycles and pregnancies and menopauses which make them unavailable when we need them to be tested, so we won't bother about them.  Perhaps in the future things might change....we certainly hope so, even if we're no longer around to benefit.

Sigh.....

"Lovers' disputes.

Neither party should try to make the other jealous for the purpose of testing his or her affection.  Such a course is contemptible; and if the affections of the other are permanently lost by it, the offending party is only gaining his or her just desserts.  Neither should there be provocation to little quarrels for the foolish delight of reconciliation.  No lover will assume a domineering attitude over his future wife.  If he does so, she will do well to escape from his thrall before she becomes his wife in reality.  A domineering lover will be certain to be more domineering as a husband."

Of this, I have no doubt.

We will return in a few weeks, but until then - 

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Marking time

Because nothing new has been started in the sewing room.  Indeed, very little happened in the sewing room at all, this week.

Diamonds have been cut for the tumbling blocks, and more will be cut to have a good supply for the upcoming holiday.  One block was made for the monthly BOM for my quilting group. Fabric was picked up and put down again.  

The house quilt was going to be worked on but the spare bed - the design bed - is being used to lay out some Stuff for the holiday in less than two weeks, so today we shall visit the photo vault.

According to the computer this pic was taken in April, 2022 - nearly four years ago, and probably about the start of the tumbling blocks journey.

This was two years later, in June 2024....many more blocks had been made in the meantime, these few were laid out for a photo opportunity.  Now there are nearly 400 completed blocks out of 449 needed, but a few extra may be made just in case.  Many of the fabrics are repros (some from many many years ago) or newer fabrics which hold hands nicely with the repros; all were used in my tumbler quilt, and since then others have been found in the stash which also work.  Several fabrics have been used up in the process, so that's a good thing too.

In case you have forgotten, or have never seen the tumbler quilt:

Every time I look at it I think to myself - did I really make this by hand?  Not the borders, of course, but that large centre panel and another smaller panel on the reverse, and I pat myself on the back once more.

Here's a chuckle for you:  while having lunch today I was finishing the last few pages of a book, the plot of which centered around the murder of an elderly man who had planned to change his will to cut members of his family out.  This was not good enough for the husband of a niece, he wanted her share (and everyone else's too) so he engineered a gas explosion which blew up the elderly uncle's house with uncle in it, completely obliterating the house and poor old uncle.  Fast forward to the memorial service a few weeks later, one of the attendees asked if uncle was going to be cremated.....a bit late for that, I would have thought, the explosion.....

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn and knitted.  Songs were plinked and sung.  My annual entry for the Eisteddfod at the end of May has been lodged, so now the words to the poem and song need to be learned.  Most are already in my brain, the chords for the song are not there yet but they will come.  We ambled around the supermarket and found Stuff to eat.  Appointments were kept.  That was about it for the week.

Despite being told it is so, today - 1st March - is not the first day of autumn.  Days are getting shorter but temperatures are still saying 'summer', and nights are not as cool as we would like.  We will be glad to finally see the last of what has been a long unpleasant summer.  We have forgotten what rain looks like, but hopefully whoever arranges these things will take pity on us and loosen the taps to let some water through before too long.  We have high hope that our sojourn down south will be a little cooler, as we won't be far from the Snowy Mountains.....and I am also hoping to see autumn colour, won't that be nice?

"No young man who would shrink from being guilty of a great impropriety, should ever prolong his visits beyond ten o'clock, unless it be the common custom of the family to remain up and to entertain visitors at a later hour, and the visit paid is a family one and not a tete-a-tete.  Two hours is quite long enough for a call; and the young man will give evidence of his affection no less than his consideration, by making his visits short, and, if need be, making them often, rather than by prolonging to unreasonable hours."

A young lady's family will not thank her suitor for keeping them - and her - from their beauty sleep, by overstaying his welcome.  

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Finished is a good feeling!

As, I'm sure, we all know.

The last stitches were taken on the binding nearly half an hour ago.

Stepping back and looking at it finished - well, I like it. A lot.  Were there things I would have done differently - possibly.  Would I love it any more if those changes were made - no.

Fabrics from my stash of Canadian fabrics, and from my stash of autumn print fabrics, and from my stash of low volume background fabrics.  My stash contains several sub-stashes, as I'm sure everyone else's does too.

A couple of corners.

The back.  The original plan had been to use the wide stripe for the whole back, but it wasn't quite wide enough.  The maple leaf fabric is from the same manufacturer as the stripe - Northcott Fabrics - so the colours blend.

Large-scale stripes can be difficult to use; I remember I hesitated before buying this one, but I liked the Canadian-ness of it so it came home with me.  It suits the back perfectly.

Now there is a block sitting on the sewing table waiting to be made for next Saturday's group meeting....some fabrics were supplied, you will need four large-scale floral fabrics, said the instructions....I managed to find four in the stash.  The coming week is busy with several appointments and commitments for us both, but no doubt I will find the odd moment here and there to make one block.  Even though one of the supplied fabrics is pink, and I really don't love pink.

Words have been read.  As you can see, stitches have been sewn but none knitted, however the knitting will come with me to those various appointments, and who knows how many stitches will be knitted while we wait?  Notes have been plinked and sung.  We hunted, gathered and foraged in order that we may not starve, and because we are lucky we get to do it all over again next week.

Kevin was scrolling through the offerings on TV earlier, and he came across a cooking program.  I don't know what it was called, but it annoyed the bejabbers out of me because it was a man and a woman demonstrating.....she made a sauce out of I-don't-know-what, I think there was cream involved, then HE laid the potato slices tenderly in their dish, HE poured over the sauce she had made, HE placed the dish in the oven, HE took the dish out......all the while he was grinning inanely as if HE had just re-invented the wheel.....which is why I don't care for male TV chefs who have the "step aside, little lady, and let a real man do this" attitude.  Yes, I know many men like to cook.  Good for them.  I'm sure they do so without the superior attitude of most TV chefs.

The same goes for ads with a man showing a woman how to do the washing....in my experience it has been a woman (me) showing a bloke (Kevin and our two sons) how to operate a washing machine and how to use the iron. 

And while we're on the subject......do any of you sniff the contents of the wash basket before they go into the washing machine? Or blissfully sniff those freshly washed contents as they hang on the line in the sunshine?  Because I, for one, don't, despite those ads which show it happening.

When I rule the world, things will be different.

The plans for our 50th Anniversary Mini World Tour next month are proceeding nicely, all our accommodation has been booked, and I am starting to suss out places to visit.  Op shops, of course, that goes without saying....maybe a fabric shop or two.....hopefully someone to play music with.....family to visit in Canberra (no doubt the One And Only Grandkid will be towering over me by now) and friends to catch up with.

Something I have forgotten to mention: during the country music festival last month we attended a morning of poetry and comedy; we have been in the past and always enjoyed it.  As we entered we were given a numbered ticket and guess what - I won!  A DVD of poetry and laughs from some of the performers; we haven't watched it yet, but we will.  Just goes to show that, sometimes, you can be lucky.

"The relations of an engaged couple.

A young man has no right to put a slight upon his future bride by appearing in public with other ladies while she remains neglected at home.  He is in future her legitimate escort.  He should attend no other lady when she needs his services; she should accept no other escort when he is at liberty to attend her.  A lady should not be too demonstrative of her affection during the days of her engagement.  There is always a chance of "a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip"; and over demonstrations of love are not pleasant to be remembered by a young lady, if the man to whom they are given by any chance fails to become her husband.  An honorable man will never tempt his future bride to any such demonstration.  He will always maintain a respectful and decorous demeanor toward her."

That's right.  No PDAs please, folks.  One never knows where to look when one is a spectator to such an activity.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Well, that's February half done

Seems like the year is racing by, and Christmas will be upon us again before we know it.

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday, so off we went for a Nice Sunday Drive - yes, I know it was Saturday, but one can go for a Nice Sunday Drive on any day of the week - to a small town in the hills to the south-east.  Nundle is nearly an hour away; the road is not a multi-lane freeway by any stretch of the imagination, but is a really nice drive through the hills.  The pub has a reputation for being a place for a good feed, and it certainly didn't disappoint, my trout (from a local business) was delicious.  It's a place I have always enjoyed visiting as my family's history is tied up in the area, my maternal grandfather was born not far away, and his birth and the births of several of his siblings were all registered at the Nundle courthouse, a handsome building dating from 1880 which is now a museum.

Which is why the binding on my Canadian table topper isn't yet finished, as there wasn't much of yesterday left by the time we arrived home and I seldom use the machine at night.  Tired eyes, tired brain and machinery make for unhappy results, as I have found out in the past.

As you can see it has been cut, the strips joined and sewn to the topper, but the binding ends need to be joined then turned to the back and sewn down.  This red leafy fabric was in my stash - isn't it delicious?  As it has maple leaves and is red, it seemed just the Very Thing for the binding.

Over the past few days we have been planning our annual March trip down south.  We will be joining with our son to celebrate his 50th birthday - how can I have a 50 year old kid when I am only 29 and some months, I wonder? - and before that our 50th anniversary, which falls a few days earlier.  It didn't matter at the time, and 50 years later it matters even less, although my MIL was a bit shocked and scandalised that her only son would take up with a not-yet-divorced woman.  We are planning a few days in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, basing ourselves in Tumut and using it as a base to do some exploring.  Then it will be off to Canberra for ten days, before heading off home.  We will be away for three weeks, and are looking forward to it.  We have stayed overnight in Tumut a couple of times, nigh on 30 years ago, and remember it as a very pretty town.

At least I was legally divorced when we married, unlike my grandmother who married my grandfather before her decree was absolute, making their marriage bigamous.....and my mother and her brother illegitimate.  My mother would have been mortified to the ends of the earth, had she known.  I enjoy watching genealogy programs, the scandals are often more interesting than boring everyday living, aren't they?

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn but not knitted.  Notes have, once more, been plinked and sung.  Appointments have been kept.  Hunting, gathering and foraging have been on the menu, and so passed another week.

Some rain would be nice....this weekend's forecast was for good rain, but not a drop has fallen from the sky.  Not a dribble, not a drip.  Oh well, no doubt rain will come when it comes.

"Position of an engaged man.

The same rules may be laid down in regard to the other party to the contract.  Neither should assume a masterful or jealous attitude toward the other.  They are neither of them to be shut up away from the rest of the world, but must mingle in society nearly the same as before, and take the same delight in friendship.  The fact that they have confessed their love for each other ought to be deemed a sufficient guarantee of faithfulness; for the rest let there be trust and confidence."

Very sensible words.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Some days....

....I swear some of the rubber bands holding my brain together just snap....

Yesterday afternoon quilting was started on the Canadian table centre.  When this pattern was made several years ago the quilting was a few parallel rows of stitching inside the borders; the first row was 1/4 in inside the border then another row 1/2 in inside that row.  A gap of a couple of inches then two more rows half an inch apart finished the quilting for the centre section.  It was easy and looked good, so the idea was to quilt the Canadian centre the same way.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon:  first the bobbin thread ran out - my own fault for not checking before I started, that was the first rubber band snapping.  The bobbin was filled so off we went again; the first row was stitched 1/4 in inside the border with no problems, then the second row started 1/2 in inside that.  Somehow, though, when the first corner was turned the second row became 1/4 in inside the first instead of 1/2 in, and that was kept up until the last corner was turned.  When it was realised that those two rows of stitching were not going to line up the decision had to be made - lots of unpicking to sew the second line 1/2 inch away from the first, or a very small amount to continue with 1/4 inch away.  Not much choice, really.....

So the first two rows are now 1/4 inch apart, and will stay that way.

Subsequent lines will be stitched 1/4 in apart, to finish off quilting the centre.  The borders will be quilted in the ditch (not my favourite method of finishing a project, but all that this simple design needs) and it will be bound in a red maple leaf print.

This pic was taken at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden the same day as last week's waratah pics, this is how they grow in the wild.

A flowering waratah bush is quite a sight.  Sadly they don't grow around here as the soil is wrong - they grow on sandy ridges, something we don't have - and being in a valley, our summers are too hot.

How has everyone been?  Fortunately it has cooled here - not a lot, but still better than the extreme heat of late January - a little rain fell last weekend, with more forecast tomorrow.  Just in time, because the garden is getting crispy from the heat.  I had plans earlier in the week but a severe (fortunately only occasional, and not usually this bad) flare up of bursitis and sciatica laid me low for several days.  Never mind; all is much better, I can move again without agonising pain on every step, and my energy is back.

Words have been read, many words, because when one is feeling poorly and in severe pain one finds it difficult to be energetic so sitting in one's supportive chair reading is a good way to pass the time.  Stitches have been knitted, stitches have been sewn, more diamonds have been cut for my tumbling blocks quilt; the design requires 449 hexagons, each made of three diamonds, which by my calculations makes 1347 diamonds in total.  There are three bags each containing 100 completed hexagons, and that fourth hundred is also proceeding nicely.  We hunted and foraged.  That was the week, that was.

Monday afternoon ukulele is back, yay!  We seem to have lost a couple of people but have gained two newies who want to progress beyond easy chords, so that's good.  Choir also started back last Thursday afternoon, so my musical life has resumed once more.  It is very much missed when in recess.

While out and about recently we have become aware that several trees seem to be preparing for their autumn change, something I have noticed happens here in late summer.  Either that, or they are just stressed by the heat the same as humans are.  First the green leaves lose some of their brightness then they begin to look washed-out and faded, even though it's still a couple of months until autumn.  I don't remember seeing these changes when we lived in the Big Smoke, but then the climate is very different down there; autumn passed by in a flash, winter likewise, and before we knew it it was back to summer's never-ending humidity.

The winter sports carnival is on again overseas.  I am not, and never have been, one for sport; at school I managed to get out of most sporting activities, not that it was a difficult decision to do so.  In those days it was all about winning rather than taking part - I suspect it still is - and as I was never going to be a world-beater in any physical activity I had no interest in it at all.  Didn't then, don't now.  For many years my chosen activity was dancing, international dance - Irish and Scottish, dances from Australia's past, just about any form of social (as opposed to theatrical) dance, and great fun it was too, but sadly that twice-broken foot means that my dancing days are done.

Sigh.....

"The position of an engaged woman.

An engaged woman should eschew all flirtations, though it does not follow that she is to cut herself off from all association with the other sex because she has chosen her future husband.  She may still have friends and acquaintances, but she must try to conduct herself in such a manner as to give no offence."

This is so.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Melting, melting.....

The past week has been almost unbearably hot, with many towns seeing record-breaking temperatures.  While our town didn't see records tumble (to quote a favourite media cliché) it has been quite nasty, at times, and we will be glad to see the last of it.  We even have hopes of some rain later; the heatwave has negated any benefit from rain of two or three weeks ago.

As a result almost nothing of consequence happened in the sewing room, certainly nothing worthy of a photo.  The moose table topper is now layered and pinned ready for quilting, which will be done during the coming week once cooler temperatures arrive; my brain turns to mush and I can't concentrate in such extreme heat as we have had.  

Trawling through the photo vault has yielded some gems.

During our last visit to Canada we stayed with friends on Vancouver Island, and while there we visited the Northern Island Wildlife Recovery Centre where we made the acquaintance of this interesting bird.

You have to smile at that comical face, don't you!  It was a large owl which came to the Centre after being hit by a vehicle; due to its damaged wing it could no longer fly and hunt, so it was living out its best life and educating visitors while doing so.

The year before we shook the dust of the Big Smoke from our heels we took ourselves on an outing to Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, which specialises in cool climate plants.  I don't remember the name of this plant but it was spring, so perhaps those autumn-like colours are its new spring growth; many Australian native plants have pale pinkish/bronze colouring for their new shoots.

The visitor centre had a display of waratahs, our state floral emblem.....I love waratahs.  There was a children's colouring competition, a display of individual blooms, mostly red but with some white - yes, white waratahs really exist - and floral arrangements featuring waratahs.

A close up of a vivid red waratah surrounded by its serrated leathery leaves, with a few fern fronds peeking in at the side.

On my bookshelf is a slim book about the waratah as a decorative feature, and very interesting it is too.  Back in the late 1800s there was a great interest in using Australian flora and fauna as decorative motifs, and the waratah was up there with the best;  you could decorate your home with waratahs carved in wood for your fireplace, printed on wallpaper for your wall or fabric for your curtains, painted on plates or cups to decorate your table....just about anything you desired could be decorated with waratahs, and very exuberant they were too.

Words have been read, many words, because staying out of that fierce heat with one's nose buried in a book was one way to spend several hot days.  No stitches have been knitted.  More diamonds have been cut for hand-piecing, and hand-piecing of diamonds continues.  At this rate, I will be able to open my own gem mine in no time at all. We braved the heat to go out for food.

In recent days the socials, as they seem to be called, have been alight with plaintive pleas of "can anyone hem my daughter's school dresses before school goes back next week?".  While I realise that not everyone has advanced or even basic sewing skills, if you have a daughter or two who wear dresses which need to have hems taken up and let down, would it not be an idea to learn some sewing skills in order to do so?  It's not haute couture, after all, just very basic sewing for which basic supplies are needed, and would save you money in the long run.  Basic sewing used to be taught in schools, to my knowledge it no longer is ('Textile and Design' was a subject when I worked in high school before retiring; students could make quite complicated creations, but I could not attest to their hemming skills) but as a 'life skill' it is invaluable.

Off my soap box.....

Our visitors departed on Tuesday morning, our musician friend sporting four new tyres on his blue car ($$$$!), something he wasn't expecting when he arrived here ten days earlier.  At least those new tyres made his long trip home a safe one, albeit something of a sticker shock.  We have sometimes had to sort out mechanical issues while away too, not a fun activity but a necessary one for a trip to continue.

"Conduct of the fiancée.

The conduct of the fiancée should be tender, assiduous and unobtrusive.  He will be kind and polite to the sisters of his betrothed and friendly with her brothers.  Yet he must not be in any way unduly familiar or force himself into family confidences on the ground that he is to be regarded as a member of the family.  Let the advance come rather from them to him, and let him show a due appreciation of any confidences which they may be pleased to bestow upon him.  The family of the young man should make the first advances toward an acquaintance with his future wife.  They should call upon her or write to her, and they may with perfect propriety invite her to visit them in order that they may become acquainted."

No doubt the young woman would be apprehensive to meet her future in-laws, as indeed he was to meet his.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer