My facebook account is now deactivated

I only wanted to add one friend, and facebook was trying to add 84........so I have given up on the whole idea. In the three plus years I had the account I barely looked at it, so I don't think I will miss it.

See you in a couple of weeks........

.....because we are going away to a folk festival about 2-1/2 hours from here. We're coming home at the end of this month. Looking forward to it, as some of the performers are friends who we haven't seen since Easter.

Last Sunday, after the weather improved from Saturday's blast of winter, we visited two of the open gardens. We have taken some beautiful photos.....that is to say, Kevin took them because my camera battery was flat and needed to be charged. But he takes lovely pics which, blogger being amenable, you will see in due course. At present image uploads are disabled for a couple of hours due to maintenance, so the little message is telling me. One of the gardens was on top of a hill and was really superb, it's cooler than here so had plants that we can't grow. I'm so glad we went as the garden has changed hands within the family and it won't be opened again. The other was on a north-facing hill - our sunny side - only three years old. I would love to see it again in about five years as it has a great deal of promise. We were talking to the owners who said they wouldn't open next year, I said how about in five years time.......what a good idea, they said.

Our roses are blooming away, the glorious yellow one has two more blooms, and the little miniature with different coloured flowers will be abloom in two or three days. And we won't be here to enjoy it......three of the larger rose bushes are red, one is the deep dark rich burgundy while it looks as though the others are brighter.

Goodness, I am being swamped by facebook! This afternoon I went looking for one person to add as my friend - don't want to be poor little Susie No-Friends, do we? - and messages have been sent to just about everyone to whom I have ever sent an email, or who has ever sent me one. I was not expecting that. So if any of you receive the message and don't want to take it further I won't be offended, and I apologise profusely. I have been on facebook for a few years and don't check it very often.......I forget to. If anyone is hoping to have a rich online experience with me they will sadly disappointed.

This afternoon we packed up the cats and took them to their holiday resort. They are staying in a lovely cattery way out in the country with their own covered verandah, and rural smells, and birds to watch. They weren't thrilled about the 25 kilometre drive (consequently neither were we) but I'm sure will settle in quickly. They were there when we first moved from Sydney so it will be somewhere familiar for them. We were pleased to get Binky out of the car because she gets very nervous, and does what nervous cats do......fortunately the smell soon cleared.

"The hand.

The beautiful hand is long and slender, with tapering fingers and pink, filbert-shaped nails. The hand to be in proper proportion to the rest of the body should be as long as from the point of the chin to the edge of the hair on the forehead."

Yep...my hand is in proportion to my face. But is my face in proportion to my hand?

Enjoy your days!

Winter has come back

A close-up of the quilting on my scrap Road to St Louis quilt which is entered in Quilting Gallery's weekly contest - not prize-winning by any stretch of the imagination, but not bad for a mug like me. All done on My Lovely New Bernina. I traced the pattern onto lunch wrap paper (not waxed paper) and quilted through it, then one good movie on TV......a rare occurrence, I must say.......was enough to provide entertainment while I tore away the paper.

Deb has a giveaway but you can't enter, because I want to win the lovely fabric and book she is so generously giving to one lucky person! While you are there you must admire her gorgeous chocolate brown quilt, do you think if I asked very nicely do you think she would give it to me?

Winter has returned here today with a vengeance, we are having very cold winds and rain. Instead of the usual 23 deg C (that's 79 deg F) it was only 4 deg C (39 deg F) at 11.30 this morning. That is very cold, so we have our woodburning stove keeping us (and the kitties, it's all for them you know) from feeling too chilly. This weekend some local gardens are open to the public, we had hoped to go to one in particular but it's so cold and windy and nasty that we have stayed in. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I feel sorry for the gardens' owners as they have worked hard to make their gardens beautiful, then the weather comes along and mucks things up.

Have started on quilting my challenge quilt and will do a little more later when my pedal foot recovers from standing in the kitchen while making chocolate hedgehog slice. For the non-Aussies, that's broken plain sweet biscuits (cookies) mixed with melted butter, sugar, dessicated coconut, cocoa powder and beaten egg, pressed into a large pan then iced with chocolate icing. No, I don't intend to eat it all myself - although I may have to try a piece to make sure it's OK before serving it to guests on Tuesday. Don't know what I have done to my foot but by gosh it is sore. But it was worse before the chiropractor worked her magic the other day, so that's something isn't it.

"Cleaning silver.

For cleaning silver, either articles of personal wear or those pertaining to the toilet-table or dressing-case, there is nothing better than a spoonful of common whiting, carefully pounded so as to be without lumps, reduced to a paste with gin."

Or you could put up with your silver being tarnished, and drink the gin yourself. A much better use for it, I would have thought.

Enjoy your days!

Quilting Gallery Weekly Contest

This week's contest is "scrap quilts", so just for fun I entered my Road to St Louis quilt. I called it "Meet Me At The Fair" - remember the movie and its title song? Here it is in progress when I was quilting it, the contest and a full pic are here. There are some lovely scrappy quilts!

Slacko that I am, I still haven't started quilting my challenge quilt. My pedal foot and back have both been saying "wait a few days" but I want to get started. Yesterday the chiropractor did wonders so I think it's time to begin.
The reserve over the back fence is green and full of growing plants, I have no idea what they are - probably weeds. The taller flowers poking up their heads are wild poppies, pale mauve with deep purple centres.
The previous owner planted a large clump of these irises just outside the back fence, then dug some up to take with her. We don't mind as there are still lots and lots left! We have been noticing that irises are popular in gardens here and I have seen some beautifully coloured ones, these are pale creamy peach. The whole clump seems to be the same colour.

They will probably grow even more today because it is raining, very welcome rain. The yellow rose in the front garden is fully open and is scrumptiously gorgeous. Looks as though another of the roses will be red, and we don't know what the other colours will be. Next week we will be going away for ten days so with our luck they will all come into glorious bloom while we are away.

And The Only Choir In Town definitely isn't! I have joined another choir so that means singing on Monday and Thursday nights. One is more formal in its repertoire, the other is more light-hearted - each have their place, and I enjoy them both.

"The Obligation of an Introduction.

Two persons who have been properly introduced have in future certain claims upon one another's acquaintance which should be recognized, unless there are sufficient reasons for overlooking them. Even in that case good manners require the formal bow of recognition upon meeting, which, of itself, encourages no familiarity. Only a very ill-bred person will meet another with a stare."

Now that I have learnt how to put a fancy-nancy signature on my blog posts I would like to learn how to put my name on my pictures. I could always google it, couldn't I - that's how I found out how to make a signature.

Enjoy your days!

Shopping WOW

Dear me, this came out a little dark didn't it! This little wombat is decorating my shopping buggy and is the same design we used to decorate our luggage before an overseas trip. Last year when my broken arm was healing I bought a trolley to use - it's still very handy for library visits, because I don't just borrow one or two books. When we first moved here my trolley was still in Sydney so I bought this one, just a cheapy but it is very useful. So now I have two, but only one is decorated with a wombat.....shall have to fix that.We have roses! This evening I picked these beauties and there are still more on the bush. They are large, very dark and velvety, really beautiful, but unfortunately have very little fragrance. The leaves are quite large too. You can see our little back yard through the window with the reserve beyond that. And our oh-so-beautiful wash line.
I left this one on the bush to finish opening up. I love flowers, all flowers, but have to admit to having a particular soft spot for yellow roses.....never thought I would have one of my own.
This is a miniature rose in a small garden by the mail box, the first flower that greets visitors. When the buds first open up they are gold, then they turn orange, then coral pink. The bush has a lot of buds so when it is covered in different colours it will be such a pretty sight.

Because we didn't plant any of these roses we don't know what they are called. There are still some that haven't flowered, a few standard and another miniature, so we are looking forward to seeing what colours we get. I have never grown roses before, but we pruned them in winter as one is supposed to do, and it seems to have worked. The climate here is much drier and less humid than the coast, and I believe roses prefer that. They certainly seem to do well here.

Tammy, Sandy, and Fiona all have stylish new signatures! Don't know about you all, but I thought making my new signature was fun.

My challenge quilt is pinned ready to be quilted, I was going to start today but my back had other ideas. Never mind, there is always another day.

Yesterday we heard the news that Dame Joan Sutherland had died at the weekend. She was a wonderful singer who did so much for young singers, and for opera in general, in Australia. She will be very much missed. However I was saddened to find the notice of her death tucked away on a corner of a major online Aussie news site - because sport was the major story. 'Someone' at the Commonwealth Games had run faster than 'someone else' and that was considered to be the top news story of the day. Whoopee.

Another thing that makes my palm itch (because I want to smack them severely about the head) is the media commentator at the Commonwealth Games - I am not watching much of it, but Kevin is enjoying it - who talks about the opening and closing "ceremoanies". Australians don't have "ceremoanies". We have "ceremonies". While I'n not one of those people who gets hot and bothered about the so-called Americanisation of Aussie English, that particular one annoys me. Language is fluid, it is continually changing and evolving, words are wonderful things and can be very powerful - and part of what makes it interesting are the differences between nations, their cultures and and their language. Let's keep the difference. Homogenisation is for milk, not words.

"Politeness.

Politeness is kindness of manner. This is the outgrowth of kindness of heart, of nobleness, and of courage. But in some persons we find an abundance of courage, nobleness and kindness of heart, without kindness of manner, and we can only think and speak of them as not only impolite, but even rude and gruff."

Enjoy your days!

Sorting out signatures

Seems a few of you are having trouble with the online signature site. I didn't write the steps for within that site because it's not the only signature site on the internet, and if folks use another site the steps may not apply. Here's how you do it on MyLiveSignature.

When you go to this site first click on "Click here to start".

Of the three options which come up, choose the first, "using the signature creation wizard".

Follow the steps through choosing font, size etc. You will come to colour.

Click on the red box to bring up all colour options.

Using the slider on the right hand side of the box, slide it down until you see a colour you want to use - click within the box on that colour. If you don't click on your chosen colour it will stay black.

Choose a slope for your newly created signature.

Your signature ID number is displayed, and under it are three options...choose the bottom, "Want to use this signature?"

Two options are displayed, the first is "Generate HTML CODE" - click on that.

Two options are displayed again, you need the first - "generate a code for my handwritten signature".

When you have chosen that, the HTML code for your new signature is displayed with a box. Copy that, then return to your blog and follow the steps in my last post to paste it in your blog.

If you have any more trouble let me know, but that should do it.

Disclaimer: if you use another signature site you may need to go through a different procedure for the same result! If so, just follow the prompts on the screen until you have what you want.

You can do it too!

Following some googling this morning this is how I made my unique signature. If you don't use Blogger the procedure may be different.

There are online signature makers, I used this one and had fun choosing a font, size, colour (of course it had to be green....have I mentioned that I am quite fond of green?), slant etc. When that is done, you will have your signature's html code. Don't forget to copy it before moving back to your blog.

Go to your blog dashboard, at the top go to "Settings", then "Formatting". At the bottom of that page you will find "Post Template" with an empty box. Paste the html code with your signature into the box.

Voila - your own personal signature!

Don't forget to type above it and not below, or you will sign off on your posts before you even start.

If you want to remove Blogger's "posted by Jane Bloggs at 3.30pm" - having your name twice makes your lovely new signature redundant, and we don't want that - go to your blog's "Design" page, the page that lets you add and remove elements. Click on "Edit" on the large Blog Posts box, which will bring up a pop-up window "Configure Blog Posts". Uncheck the "Posted by" option.

Have fun!