To my Canadian family and friends......

......best wishes for Canada Day!

Don't you love how this maple tree is almost the shape of a big maple leaf?  Taken at Bluffers Park, Toronto, in October 2009.  Here's hoping for more glorious fall colours in October this year - just for us.


Winter is well and truly upon us, we have had some very very cold weather this week.  Last week was the winter solstice but it was much too cold for dancing nekkid round the bonfire at midnight, or whatever our ancestors did on this occasion - so I didn't.  There are some things for which the world is not yet ready.  They must have been a hardy lot, those forebears of ours.


This week I was approached by someone connected with a local community radio station to see if I would be interested in being trained for, and perhaps ultimately having, a radio program.  I said yes!  So here goes.  Just goes to show that even at my advanced age there are new experiences to be had.  The radio station has a huge collection of its own music, and announcers also use music from their own collections - as I would.  Perhaps having a program which plays folk music might be a way to winkle out some closet folkies?  Let's hope so, because I miss being involved with folk music more than I can say.  While I enjoy being part of two choirs I do miss the interaction of getting together with like-minded people to just sit around and make our own music.


This town calls itself "Australia's Country Music Capital" and has a huge music festival in January with a much smaller one in July, but their idea of country music and mine are somewhat different.  My taste is for older music, preferably written before 1970.......most modern 'country' music to me sounds like pop music.  Just wearing cowboy boots and singing to a guitar doesn't make a song country.  There is even an annual school here for budding country musicians!  I was told of a young woman who took one of its courses a few years ago who was told she would have to dye her hair, as there were already enough dark-haired girls on the scene.  Supposing she didn't want to?  Music which is formulaic is not my idea of music - sorry.  Life would be dull indeed if we all liked the same music, or read the same books, or ate the same food.......


Has anyone spotted the housework fairy lately?  She hasn't been visiting here for some time and I have had to clean my own floors, and wave my own duster around.  I am not impressed.  The garden elves have also gone missing, probably playing games with the housework fairies somewhere a long way away from here.  


"Home is the woman's kingdom, and there she reigns supreme.  To embellish that home, to make happy the lives of her husband and the dear ones committed to her trust, is the honoured task which it is the wife's province to perform.  All praise be to her who so rules and governs in that kingdom, that those reared beneath her roof 'shall rise up and call her blessed'."


You know, I will gladly relinquish some of that supremacy to the housework fairy when she finally makes her appearance.


Enjoy your days!

Back home again

Last week was fun - visiting with my friend, catching up with other friends at the quilt show, and of course the quilt show itself.  The winners are here, so make yourself a cup of your favourite drink and enjoy.  Di also has some pics on her blog.  I thought the standard was very high, and was surprised by how many reproductions quilts were on show - quilts made with reproduction fabrics, or copies of old designs from Australia and overseas, or new designs which were influenced by quilts of the 19th century.  Perhaps that's all part of yearning for a time when things seemed simpler - I wonder what next year's trend will be?

But enjoyable as my visit was, it's good to be home.  Fortunately this year's train trip was uneventful, and I didn't have a snoring bloke next to me.  It's a very pleasant trip which goes through some lovely countryside.

This is not a prize-winning quilt.

 Each month one of my quilt groups makes blocks, many of which end up in quilts for children staying at the local Ronald Macdonald House while undergoing treatment in hospital.  We take turns at 'winning' the blocks, and these were some I took home and put together.

The sashing fabrics were donated to the group for this purpose, and the border fabric was bought last week in the Big Smoke.  It's backed with light green fleece, and will be warm and cuddly for a little kiddie-widdie.

Now that trip is over we can look forward to the next one in October, which will be to Canada - yay!  It will be so good to see our son and his lovely girlfriend again.  Wonder if we can bundle them up and bring them home with us?  Perhaps not.........but we would love to......we will also be able to catch up with friends made on our last trip, which we are very much looking forward to doing.  Travelling is good, seeing different places is interesting, but it's the people we meet and friendships we make that are the real highlights of a holiday.  

Today is rather cool, although the sun is shining it doesn't have much warmth, so the fire is very welcome.  There is chicken, bacon and vegetable soup simmering in the slow cooker which smells really good, and there are leftovers for dinner.  What more could a person want on a cold day?  My new jacket is toasty warm and may even accompany me to Canada, as it will be much colder when we land in Vancouver and Toronto than it will be when we leave Sydney.  Way way up there in the sky it can also be rather cool, so a cosy jacket could be a Good Thing.  I remember on our last visit that late afternoon in Toronto, in early October, was not hot.

"Dinner a la Russe.

The latest and most satisfactory plan for serving dinners is the dinner a la Russe (the Russian style) -all the food being placed upon a side table, and servants to do the carving and waiting.  The style gives an opportunity for more profuse ornamentation of the table, which, as the meal progresses, does not become encumbered with partially empty dishes and platters."

Somehow I think we will be serving ourselves to our leftovers tonight, I haven't seen a servant for a long time.......and never in this house.

Enjoy your days!

I feel the earth move under my feet......

........I see the sky tumblin' down.......

The earth moved here on Friday night, we had an earthquake!  I was home alone, and at 9.30pm was startled to hear a rumbling like a large truck coming up the street....then it sounded more like an army tank......then the house started to shake, doors and windows rattled, and after a moment or two all was quiet again.  A couple of minutes' respite, and it started up again.  I joined several neighbours in the street outside, and we could still hear rumbling so we decided we were having an earthquake.  Sure enough, that was confirmed a short while later on the computer news.  4.2 magnitude, the epicentre 50kms north west of here, and 17kms underground.  Not much damage, we have heard; a broken window or two in towns closer to the centre of the action is about all.

The cats were completely oblivious; Binky was asleep in front of the fire and Bianca was asleep on our bed.  However our neighbour told me her little dog, Pud the pug (a cute little roly-poly pudding of a dog), started barking just as the tremor began.  Binky used to be very nervous about loud noises or thunder, so she has certainly mellowed and relaxed in her old age - she didn't even blink.

That sort of excitement, I can do without.

Earlier in the week the top of this year's challenge quilt was finished.  The colours aren't as washed-out as they appear; the winter sunlight outside today makes them look a little pale.  The challenge is to make a quilt at least 120cm (48in or thereabouts) from stash, although we are allowed to purchase backing and/or wadding.  Before we left Sydney I bought the fabrics for this quilt, and the little pinwheels were made from leftover triangles from another project.  When trimmed they measured all of 2-3/4in (that makes them 2-1/4in finished) so the blocks are 6-3/4in, and the whole quilt measures a bit over 60in square.  I have a flower design in mind for quilting the alternate blocks and setting triangles, and the binding will be the same blue as the inner border.  Its name will probably be "Plastered Pinwheels", because those little pinwheels were assembled while my left arm and hand were encased in several layers of plaster and bandages.  Both arm bones were broken at the wrist, sustained in a fall.  Being unable to knit, crochet or sew was very boring and even holding a book to read was difficult and painful, so I went looking for fabric pieces that could be fed through the machine - and found these, the only fabric cut out ready to sew.  Some of the points don't line up  quite as beautifully as if I had two good working hands, but being able to achieve even this much meant a lot at the time.

Once again it is winter, we have had some pleasantly mild weather and some really really cold days and nights, and once again I am amused by the folk who don't dress accordingly.  Compared to many parts of the world our winter is mild, although it can have a bite to it.....but chickybabes who go out wearing shorts, sandals and spaghetti-strap tops?  I know some people feel the cold more than others, but those little chickies make me feel cold just looking at them.  Perhaps as they become older and wiser they will realise that shivers and goosebumps with those pretty clothes is not a good look.

The new jacket is finished, all knitted and sewn together.  The world won't see a picture of me wearing it because its fluffiness makes me look like the outside of a house, but it is very cosy and warm.  Last night a new cardigan was cast on, knitted from the top down - a new technique for me - we'll see how it goes.  Need something to entertain myself on those two upcoming six-hour train trips, don't I?  With a book to read, and hand-piecing, and knitting, and just watching the world go by outside the window, the time should pass nicely.  Just so long as I don't get a seat partner who snores, as last year's bloke did.

Today's etiquette is a little long, but its good advice deserves to be read in its entirety.

"Discretion in  forming acquaintances.
While an acquaintance formed in a railway carriage or on a steamboat continues only during the trip, discretion should be used in making acquaintances.  Ladies may, as has been stated, accept small courtesies and favors from strangers, but must check at once any attempt at familiarity.  On the other hand, no man who pretends to be a gentleman will accept any familiarity.  The practice of some young girls just entering womanhood, of flirting with any young man they may chance to meet, either in a railway carriage or on a steamboat, indicates low breeding in the extreme.  If, however, the journey is long, and especially if it be on a steamboat, a certain sociability may be allowed, and a married lady or a lady of middle age may use her privileges to make the journey an enjoyable one, for fellow passengers should always be sociable to one another."

Although we will be crossing rivers, one very wide, we won't be travelling on a steamboat.....such a pity, as it sounds like fun.

Enjoy your days!

Dripping and stripping

Dripping, because it has been raining lightly all day......what the Irish would call a soft day.  Soggy back yard, soggy reserve on the other side of the fence.  The garden is smiling.  Because this picture was taken earlier this year it's not so green now but is just as soggy, and the trees on the hill are just as misty.

 Stripping, because I have been joining strips for the borders of this year's challenge quilt.

 Two are joined on, so far.  It's been sitting on the spare bed for a few months just waiting for me to get around to cutting the fabrics for the border.  Genius can't be rushed, you know.

The border will be mitred, which means the last three quilt tops I have made all have mitred borders.  I don't know how many are left in my brain.......while they aren't difficult they do take a little more thinking than straight borders, but sometimes they are so right for a quilt that it would be a shame not to use them.  When this coffee and blogging break is over, the remaining two borders will be attached then the corners mitred before my brain shuts down.  The inner border is the same fabric as the background so the pinwheel blocks appear to float.

The new jacket is being sewn together too, just in time for winter.  However, it can be a bit tricky sewing knitted pieces together when one of the cats insists that your lap is the only one which will do for a snooze. It's warm enough having a mohair jacket resting on one's knees without a furry cat as well, particularly when said cat tries to help with the sewing.

Next week is the annual quilt/craft show in Sydney, so I am off on the train for a visit.  It's rather good being an Olde Pharte because that train trip is very inexpensive, and it's quite relaxing.....so long as I don't get a seat partner like the bloke who sat next to me last year for part of the return trip.  As many older blokes do he sat back in his chair, spread his legs, tipped his hat over his face and went to sleep, perhaps thinking he was at home in his recliner.  All very nice for him, except he was in the aisle seat and I was sitting by the window.  Once people started to leave the train and seats became vacant, he moved - for which I was very thankful.  Wonder if the railway would let me book two seats?  Probably not.......

The arrangements for the trip to Canada in October are proceeding nicely.  We have booked our plane tickets (I'm not thrilled about flying but the alternative is a long swim), accommodation in Toronto and Victoria, and hire car in Toronto.  We even have a few loonies and toonies left from the last visit, so we can familiarise ourselves with Canadian money again.  Other countries' money is interesting, isn't it?  Their banknotes are bigger than ours, Canadian notes don't quite fit so neatly in my wallet as our local notes do.

To follow on from the etiquette quote in the previous post:

"Picking teeth at the table.
It is a mark of rudeness to pick your teeth at the table, and it should always be avoided.  To hold your hand or napkin over your mouth does not avoid the rudeness of the act, but if it becomes a matter of necessity to remove some obstacle from between the teeth, then your open mouth should be concealed by your hand or napkin."

Nothing is said about the implement used in the removal - perhaps a solid gold toothpick?  Now back to those quilt borders.

Enjoy your days!

Workshop quilt top is finished

Because it is a bit long to photograph inside, it was hung outside on the wash line.  I like the effect of light shining through.......looks like a stained glass window.

There was a little breeze, but not quite enough to make it flap about.  Now that this top is done it has taken its place in the "to be layered and quilted" queue......it is number three behind the yet-to-be-finished challenge quilt top and the wombat quilt.  Probably just as well it's not next, because I don't have a clue how to quilt it;  possibly something leafy, but beyond that I have no idea.

The jacket currently on the knitting needles is proceeding along very nicely, all pieces are made and the front bands are now in progress.  When it is done it will be a welcome addition to the wardrobe.  Pattern and yarn were bought at a craft show last year and there will be three full balls and possible part of a fourth left because I am short, so the pattern instruction length was much too long for me.  Never mind, the leftovers will make a pretty scarf.  It's a mohair blend so will be light and soft, and warm.

Yesterday morning brought some very welcome rain, and also brought some cold wintry weather - the cats have been very thankful for the fire, and so are we.  The promised (or threatened!) wind hasn't started blowing yet so all the lovely autumn trees around town still have some of their leaves left.  There is a large tree we pass on our way to town which is superb - on the northern side the leaves have already turned a beautiful bronze-red, while on the more sheltered side they are still orange-green.  I don't remember such beautiful colours when I lived here a thousand years ago, but perhaps I was too young and silly to notice them.

Dinner is preparing itself in the slow cooker, tonight's meal will be coq au vin - this is the weather for soups and stews, and what is coq au vin but a glorified chook stew?

"A knife should never, on any account, be put into the mouth.  Many people, even well-bred in other respects, seem to regard this as an unnecessary regulation; but when we consider that it is a rule of etiquette, and that its violation causes surprise and disgust to many people, it is wisest to observe it."

As I wouldn't want to surprise or disgust anyone I shall keep the knife well away from my mouth......but the chicken will be so tender, it probably won't even need a knife, a fork should be enough to cut it.

Enjoy your days!

Pretty flowers

A gorgeous arrangement of flowers sent by our older son for my birthday/Mother's Day.

 They really brighten up the house, as you can see.

Bless him - when he ordered them he told the florist "nothing pink" (he knows it's not my favourite colour) and I love these orange, red and purple of these flowers.  The tulips haven't finished opening but are very purple.  It's a great arrangement for autumn!

Yesterday the Monday night choir performed at a concert, they give two or three concerts a year.  It was well received, the audience enjoyed listening and we enjoyed performing.  Not sure when the next concert is to be but no doubt we will be told in due course.

The other day I was cutting borders for the quilt started recently and a little piece of elastic in my brain must have stretched too far and let go, because instead of lining up the fabric with the edge of my 6-1/2 inch ruler I lined one strip up with the half-inch mark and cut it six inches wide instead of six and a half inches.  Stupid stupid stupid.  This of course meant that unless I was prepared to cut a strip one inch wide and join it on, I didn't have enough fabric for all the borders.  However all was not lost as I had already decided to buy more of the border fabric to back the quilt, so I just bought a bit more.  It isn't really possible to have narrower borders as some of the pieced blocks are used in the borders.  Any leftovers, including that six inch wide strip, will end up in the stash.  Not that it needs any more contributions.....and I also have A Great Idea for the back which will entail piecing a strip of the fabrics used in the front.  Once this top is done it will take its place as number three in line waiting to be quilted.  The current challenge quilt will be number one, if ever it gets its borders done.

The grey pants which were having new elastic in their waistband probably should be done again as it wasn't pulled taut enough, they are a bit loose.  Not enough to fall down, just enough that I feel I need to keep hitching them up....which is a bit of a nuisance.  If I really feel inspired it will be done again but there are no guarantees.

We could really do with some rain, and fortunately some is forecast for the coming week.  The bird bath in our back yard is a very popular place lately and provides us with a great deal of entertainment.  We are seeing species of birds who haven't used it before, and some birds are quite territorial - they lose no time in letting others know they aren't welcome.  It can be very funny at times.  I'd love to get some pics for you but those birds move very quickly!

On 7th of this month we celebrated two years since moving out of the Big Smoke and into this house.  We are really glad we made the move, it's been a good one - we both feel very much at home here, even though the locals joke that you don't become a local until you have lived here for at least 20 years!  I was born here, moved away in my early 20s and never wanted to come back, but in 2005 spent a few days here digging into some family history.....and everyone I had contact with was so helpful and friendly, and so nice, that for the first time since leaving I thought that perhaps I could live here again.  So here we are.  As my family roots in the district go back to the 1870s.....I suppose I'm a local.

Our house in on land that during WWII was an army camp.  My father was one of the soldiers stationed here, he was from Melbourne, nearly 2,000 kms south and my mother was a local girl.  They met at a dance, although it seems my father wasn't much of a dancer, married a few years later and had three children.  It wasn't a happy marriage and after 25 years he left and went interstate, but my mother lived in this town all her life.  When I was growing up the area where our street is now was all bush, and some of the old army buildings not far from here were used for social housing - they are gone now.  Never thought, all those years ago, that I would be living here.

"Christian names.
There is a class of persons who, from ignorance of the customs of good society, or from carelessness, speak of persons by their Christian names, who are neither relations nor intimate friends.  This is a familiarity which, outside of the family circle, and beyond friends of the closest intimacy, is never indulged in by the well-bred."

Oh my, haven't times changed?  We don't have Christian names these days, we have given names.....and these are used on first acquaintance by many people, whether we like it or not.  I don't always.

Enjoy your days!

Some results from last weekend's workshop

As you can see, last weekend I had fun slicing and dicing and chopping and sewing fabrics - and these blocks are the result.

 Don't you just love the colours?  Very autumn....now there's a surprise, yes?

Unfortunately due to circumstances which won't be related here I was unable to attend the workshop on Saturday, so my weekend was only one day long.  The tutor helped me by cutting and pressing for which I was very grateful, because otherwise I would have been way behind everyone else.  All the blocks are now assembled and I need to cut fabrics for the borders, but that can wait until I repair the pants which need their elastic replaced.

Are all you mothers having a nice time on Mother's Day?  I know it's not Mother's Day all round the world today but it is in Australia.  When I was young it had become traditional to wear a white flower on Mother's Day, I wonder if that is still done?  In Australia the white flower was nearly always a chrysanthemum, because they are in flower at this time of year.  Then chrysanthemums seemed to become unfashionable for a while.  I like them, especially the lovely bronze ones.  And the lime green ones, because I quite like green.

Today we really know that winter is on the way, in fact if you stood outside in the cold wind you would say it's already here.  It's not.....quite.......warm.  The sunshine is lovely, the sky is clear and bright blue, but ooh - that wind.

Seems a lot of you agreed with my ravings a recent post about ageing.  Much is made of girls and young women and their body image problems, but what about older women?  Aren't we allowed to be unhappy with ourselves?  Are we supposed to be resigned to who and what we are, and to rejoice in it, and to celebrate every grey hair and wrinkle?  Resigned.....yes.  Rejoicing....no, not at all.  And as for celebrating grey hair and wrinkles, forget it.  They have become part of me by circumstance but they don't define me.

We enjoyed a nice dinner out for my birthday and the restaurant even gave me a bottle of champagne to bring home, bubbles, yay! So that will be drunk with tonight's Mother's Day dinner which will feature something along the lines of a frittata with eggs, silver beet leaves, fetta cheese and perhaps sweet potato - details to be worked out later.  As usual I will be cooking it myself because Kevin doesn't know what is in my head.  He can cook, but his cooking is unimaginative if he doesn't have a recipe to follow.

When I become queen I will never again make decisions about what to eat, because I will have someone to do it for me.  I don't mind cooking but after so many years (over forty.....erk) the novelty has well and truly worn off making the daily decision on What To Have For Dinner Tonight.  I really wouldn't care if I never had to make that decision ever in my life again.  I am over it.

"It is of the highest importance that all persons should conduct themselves with the strictest regard to good breeding, even in the privacy of their own home, when at table; a neglect of such observances will render one stiff and awkward in society.  There are so many little points to be observed, that unless a person is habitually accustomed to observe them, he unconsciously commits some error, or will appear awkward and constrained upon occasions when it is important to be fully at ease.  To be thoroughly at ease at such times is only acquired by the habitual practice of good manners at the table, and is the result of proper home training."

Even though we will be dining a deux this evening we will certainly observe all the little points we can.

Enjoy your days!