Wouldn't an alpaca make a nice pet?

A few weeks ago local alpaca breeders joined together to hold an open day.  

 This boy was very handsome, and didn't he know it too!  His colouring was quite unusual.

 This young cria (baby alpacas are called crias) was a bit shy, but was very cute just the same.

This was at Duri, a small village not far south of here.  You can see how dry the local sports ground is, and it's just the same here.  One could even try alpaca meat, which we did.....alpaca sausage is quite nice, with a slightly sweet taste.  I also bought some alpaca yarn with a pattern for a beanie and scarf, the beanie is already partly knitted and will be handy in winter on my morning walk.

Yes folks, walking has started again on doctor's orders.  It has taken a while to reach (because of my foot and ankle problems, and my general state of unfitness) but I am now up to 30 minutes, the last part of which - the most difficult part - is uphill coming home.  Much as we like living here on the hill, it does have its disadvantages.  I spend most of my walk watching my feet to make sure I don't stumble or trip as I don't want to break any more bones.  It's something I do because I know I have to (wouldn't even be so bad if I thought it would make me lose weight but that's a lost cause given my age, hormones and genetics) and not something I enjoy.  According to what one reads, exercise is supposed to release endorphins in the body which make one feel invigorated and happy afterwards.........I think they're missing in me, because that doesn't happen at all.  When I get home I don't feel elated, just tired and out of breath from walking back up the hill.  And hungry, because this is before breakfast.

End of moan, thank you for listening.

Kevin is now driving the car again!  That's good, because I don't need to dry him anywhere he needs to go......and not so good, because we are back to sharing the car.  Oh, well - at least he can now hang washing out again too.  No doubt about it, having someone to share the domestic chores makes life easier.

Not much action to report in the sewing room, block obligations are now down to one block being finished off (which will be done tomorrow) and two more to be made.  My quilt group - the one I will stay with - has a block each month which members take turns at making, and it's my turn next Monday to have a sample block made (that's done) and instructions written out (also done).  Meanwhile the block from this month's meeting still hasn't been started.....but it will be, never fear.  It's a leaf design and I quite like it.  Whoever "wins" the blocks each month has the option of keeping them, or using them to make a quilt which is donated to the local Ronald Macdonald House.  I have my eye on the leaf blocks and if I win them next Monday, they will be mine.  Not Ronnie Mac's.  I'll make him something else.  The remaining block is for the annual quilt which we make and donate to a local charity to use as a fundraiser, and it's a very easy design.....or would be, if I kept a stock of 2-1/2 inch squares ready cut, which I don't.  Sometimes it's almost as fiddly to cut pieces for just one block and to make it as it is to make a full-sized quilt, don't you think?

Ukulele group is proceeding well, and we are having fun.  The new uke is so beautiful to play.......I love it.  It is worth every cent it cost.  Also, the radio program has been getting good feedback.  Much of what I play comes from our own CD collection, although I do play selections from the station computer too.

Leaves on the we-think-it's-an-apricot tree in the back yard are turning lemon-yellow and falling, much to Bianca's amusement.  When you are an inside cat I suppose you have to take your entertainment where you can find it, and watching the occasional pretty leaf drift to the ground or skitter along the path on a windy day is obviously worth spending time doing.

"After you have visited a friend at her country seat, or after receiving an invitation to visit her, a call is due her upon her return to her town residence.  This is one of the occasions when a call should be made promptly and in person, unless you have a reason for wishing to discontinue the acquaintance; even then it would be more civil to take another opportunity for dropping a friend who wished to show a civility, unless her character has been irretrievably lost in the meantime."

I suppose you could say we called on the alpacas at their country seat?

The sewing room is calling.......

Enjoy your days!

Progress

On my first visit to the local library after we returned from our Easter trip to Canberra I was shocked, horrified and flabbergasted to find out that the library staff don't check one's books out for one any more, it is strictly self-service!  While I'm not frightened of doing so (over 30 years of my working life was spent in libraries) I don't like the idea of doing away with the friendly faces of the staff at the desk.  This morning I was lamenting that fact yet again to the solitary librarian who was hovering - there is usually one hovering - round the book checking computer, and he did agree.

That's progress.  We can accept it's here, but we don't have to like it.  All the local supermarkets have done away with several cashiers and replaced them with self-service checkouts too.  Even if I am buying only a few items I will wait in line and deal with a real person rather than a machine - because if shops and libraries decide that machines can do that job, there will be no real people left to deal with at all.

Last Sunday the local historical society held their annual history walk, taking in some of the area I remember as a child.  It was very interesting!  We found out snippets of very early history, and checked out the exteriors of some lovely old homes.  In the late 1800s-early 1900s there was a tannery, a skin buying business, and a soap factory all in fairly close proximity.......can you just imagine the smell?  On second thoughts, perhaps it's best not to......

Today is cool with a little drizzling rain; looking at the rain radar there is heavy rain to the north of us, and to the south of us, and there is a little clear patch over us.  So the mingy drizzle we are getting now may be all we are going to get, and we need rain quite badly  too.

 It was raining the day we visited Kincardine last October, too.

Overcast days make for photos with clear colours and no shadows, so the fall colours glow.

Kevin is now not wearing the sling for his shoulder and is steadily able to do more things, but hanging out washing is not one of them.  Neither is driving the car, although he can park it in the garage and bring it out on the driveway again.  So I let him do just that.  He can prepare vegetables and grill chops.  I let him do that, too.

After much pondering recently, I decided to resign from the post of newsletter editor for the Thursday quilt group and did so last week.  I have also decided not to renew my membership for that group when it comes due next month.  They are nice ladies, but I have realised it's not the group for me.  I go to quilt group to do just that, quilt, not to listen to a continuous litany about various members' (and their family's) ailments, illnesses and woes. It's quite depressing, and as one who has a tendency to gloominess anyway it's something I can do without.  After all, it's not as though I lack for something to do......there is still another quilt group, two choirs, ukulele group, the Sunday night radio program, and two volunteer 'jobs'.  And when I really feel the need for something to do, there is usually a floor waiting to be swept.......

"Be sympathetic and animated.
Do not go into society unless you make up your mind to be sympathetic, unselfish, animating, as well as animated.  Society does not require mirth, but it does demand cheerfulness and unselfishness, and you must help to make and sustain cheerful conversation.  The manner of conversation is as important as the matter."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Now I shall take myself off to my sewing room and make a start on one of the many block obligations hanging over my head at present.

Enjoy your days!

Maritime Beauty top done!

And I am very pleased with it too, my aim was to capture sea, sand, rocks and sky and I think this comes close.  Now to decide on quilting designs, and to select which blue fabric will be used for the binding.  If you go to Karen's blog you can see other colours used for her design in a class last weekend - they all look so different. 

My batik fabrics, with the exception of the pale gold and blue background behind the spikes which was a lucky local find, were all bought in Bib n' Tucker, Victoria, B.C., on our trip to Canada last year; a pack of brown and gold fabrics, and two Timeless Treasure charm packs called Blueberry Pie and Coco-Berry.  Thanks to my friend Lois (who doesn't have a blog) for taking me shopping, that store has an amazing selection of batik fabrics the like of which I have never seen before!

Many thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes over the fast couple of days, they are greatly appreciated!  I had a very nice day and a lovely dinner that night at a local restaurant.

Last Tuesday, 7th May, was the third anniversary of our moving into this house.....time has flown!  It's been a good move, and we really like it here.  Not long after we moved in, one of the neighbours told us that echidnas lived on the hill behind us, but we didn't see any.  Last year the neighbour on the other side, who had moved in only a week earlier, told us he had seen an echidna; we had been living here for two years then, but still hadn't seen one.  Then last month we finally did!.....and have seen it (there are probably more than one, but they all look alike) a few times since.  When we went to investigate it had its snout poked in the ground, Kevin gave it a gentle prod and it responded with a noise somewhere between a grunt and a grumble.  We took the hint, and left it in peace.

A week ago the ukulele group had a public performance, we played at the opening of an exhibition at the local Regional Gallery.  We even had an audience, people gathered round to listen and sang along with us, so we weren't just musical wallpaper!  They liked us so much we have been invited back.

During the week the return visit to the skin doctor happened, he decided that the spot on my back didn't need to be biopsied (I was spared having to take off my clothes again, thank goodness), but the one on my face did, my gosh - having an injection in one's cheek, just off the side of one's nose, is excruciating.  Brought tears to one's eyes, it did.  Now we are waiting for the result, if it's not a skin cancer then there is nothing to worry about, but if it is it will mean removal.  Which will mean another injection.......what with some recent blood tests as well, I have had enough of being spiked for quite a while.

"Other discolorations.
There are various discolorations of the skin, proceeding frequently from derangement of the system.  The cause should always be discovered before attempting a remedy; otherwise you may aggravate the complaint rather than cure it."

Does having a skin cancer which is slightly discoloured mean that one is deranged?  Probably explains a lot......

Enjoy your days!

Happy birthday to me......

......Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday,
Happy birthday to meeeeeee!

Progress......and number 200

The project started at the weekend UFO workshop is coming along nicely, as you can see.

 The pieced arcs are all made and trimmed, the inner sections are pinned in place.  The rest of the cutting will be done soon, then it can all be assembled.  I am really pleased with my fabric choices!

Last week this block was finished......that makes 200.  This is my portable hand-pieced project which has been on the go for seven years now........

 ........and these are some of the finished blocks, you can see the layout I have in mind.  All floral prints; the effect I am after is of a garden, and like many gardens there are pastels and brights, quiet prints and loud ones too.

Only 25 blocks to go, then the joining can begin!

The road works between here and town are proceeding.  Most people are being sensible and staying on the lower speed limit, but why do people think the lower limit doesn't apply at night or on weekends when the workmen aren't there?  I am getting tired of being tailgated at night because I am driving at the correct speed and the idiot behind me (almost invariably in an SUV) thinks I should be going faster.  If the police were to sit there with a speed trap they would rake in a tidy fortune.

Now, you and I know that the English language is continually changing and evolving - that means changes that we may or may not like but can accept, because we are not old fuddy-duddies, are we?  We can accept that sporting 'matches' no longer take place because every game these days is considered a 'clash' by the media, but I will be darned if I will accept 'grab'.  "I'll just grab your details" says the chickybabe at the medical centre......what's wrong with "May I have your details?"  "Can I grab a coffee?" says a young bloke in a café.  "Grab", to me, is snatching at something rudely and abruptly.  If I choose to ignore such a request, does that make me rude in return?  We won't even go into the absence of "please".......

School holidays are now over, so both choirs and the uke group will be resuming this week.  While it's been nice to relax in the evenings and not have to rush dinner to go out afterward it will be good to be making music again, I do miss it.

Kevin's shoulder is proceeding nicely.  The only drawback is his lack of domestic assistance, because there are some things he cannot do; hanging out washing, for instance.  He can't yet drive either, so I am also the chauffeur.  This means I am busier than usual, which is one of the reasons this poor blog has been neglected recently.  But that, too, will pass.

"Flippancy.
In conversation, all provincialism, affectations of foreign accents, mannerisms, exaggerations and slang are detestable.  Equally to be avoided are inaccuracies of expression, hesitation, an undue use of foreign words, and anything approaching to flippancy, coarseness, triviality or provocation."

Does that also include "grab"?  We can only hope.......

Enjoy your days!

Winter has arrived!

Oh my.....we have had such lovely autumn weather lately, sunny clear days, cool (not cold) nights.....then late yesterday afternoon a cold change blew through.....and today, it's winter.  While the temperature is not specially low it feels much colder than the number would have you think, and last night's temperature was only 1 degree.  No wonder I couldn't quite get comfortable in bed......that's 1 deg C not F, by the way.  Even now at mid-afternoon which should be the warmest part of the day I'm wearing jeans, a long sleeved tee and a heavy hand-knitted sweater, and my hands are still cold.

Kevin had his shoulder operation and is recovering well, his biggest problem is boredom.  It's his right shoulder and he is right-handed, but he is managing to do soduku, and can look after himself as far as getting dressed and showered.  Before he went under the knife I suggested that pants with elastic in the waist would make getting dressed easier, and also shirts with buttons down the front rather than tee shirts.  He thought I was being over-cautious, but acquiesced........and sure enough, he is finding those clothes easier to manage.

Lately I seem to have been so busy that I don't seem to have time to turn around and scratch myself, and even allowing for the fact that I have to be chauffeur for a while there seem to be so many things to be done that there is no time to do things I enjoy, like playing music and sewing.  Even like updating this poor neglected blog......so I am trying to be more organised.  After lunch today the fabrics for next weekend's UFO weekend project were gathered, except that mine isn't a UFO, it's a USO - UnStarted Object.

Last year Karen very generously sent a package to my son's address and it it was waiting for me when we arrived in Canada.  This is one of the two patterns included, and during our Canadian visit some of the batik fabrics shown were purchased with it in mind - the two charm packs in blues, golds and browns, and the pack of brown and gold fabrics top left.  The two bright blue fabrics are from my stash and whichever one suits the finished project best will be used for the binding, a few more gold squares from the stash were added, and the mottled blue and cream fabric in the centre ( a lucky find at a local quilt shop) will be the background.  The name "Maritime Beauty" is lovely, so it will have a theme of sand, water, rocks and sky!  One place I would love to visit is the maritime provinces of Canada.  Thank you, Karen, for your generous gift and I hope you like what I make using this pattern - I am really looking forward to making it!  Have a look at Karen's blog to see her gorgeous Maritime Beauty made from rich metallic fabrics.

Next week my ankle is booked in for an ultrasound to find out why it still troubles me; the broken foot bones seem to have healed, but nice Emma the physiotherapist said that the ankle ligament was damaged, either stretched or torn, because of my limping for so long when my foot was sore.  In hindsight it should have been checked by a doctor when it was first damaged, on Halloween.......but how many of you have kicked a toe or foot and, apart from bruising and soreness, done no lasting damage?  I have, in the past....will probably do so again before I die.......just the same, that was one almighty whack.  I kept thinking it was only bruised, it would get better.....walked everywhere on it for a couple more weeks in Canada.....walked a lot since coming home.......and it was still sore and swollen.  Never mind, I kept telling myself (and anyone who asked), it's only bruised, it will get better soon.  And it will.  It will either get better, or fall off.  Meanwhile, I have been wearing an oh-so-lovely ankle brace for several weeks.

A couple of other health issues are being checked too.  I definitely picked the wrong parents.  Genes have a lot to answer for.

On a somewhat lighter note the rough road up and over a small hill between here and town is finally being repaired.  While one side is being worked on, the other side has two narrow lanes made so traffic can continue in both directions, albeit at a lower speed than usual.  This morning on our way into town traffic in the opposite lane was being led up the hill by a bloke on a bicycle.....he was followed by a huge truck and trailer, then a few cars, then another huge truck and trailer, then several more cars, all unable to pass because of the narrowness of the lane.....and, with the exception of the first truck, none of the line of traffic would have been able to see the bloke at the head of the line pedalling furiously.  No doubt they were all wondering why they were crawling up the hill at such a snail's pace.  He may not have been the most popular bloke in town today.

"Shouting.
Never speak to your acquaintance from one side of the street to the other.  Shouting is a certain sign of vulgarity.  First approach, and then make your communication to your acquaintance or friend in a moderately loud tone of voice."

Perhaps some of the drivers in that long line of traffic may have felt like shouting at the hapless cyclist, when they were finally able to pass him.....even, perhaps, to use a vulgar tone to him.  While we wouldn't condone that, we could certainly understand it.

Enjoy your days!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch........

What a great time we had at the festival this year!  For some years now the festival has been getting bigger and bigger - this year it was pulled back in size, and was so much friendlier and easier to get round.  It was more like the festival it used to be in years gone by, and much better for that.  Let's hope it continues that way.

I was so busy having a good time that no pics were taken, would you believe!  But this afternoon I did take a few of my beautiful new ukulele, which I present for your edification.

 Isn't this a pretty little thing?

 The back and sides are of Queensland Maple, the neck is ash, and the dark fret board is lacewood.

It was expensive but worth every penny, a dream to play and it sounds wonderful.  One of the features at the festival is a display of instruments, which I have always found fascinating......so this year I went shopping, and bought my ukulele from Doug Eaton.  It was admired all weekend by many people, and last night at uke group it was a hit too.  While I'm far from being the world's best player, it makes even me sound good.

On our trip home the autumn colours were coming along nicely; next year Easter will be three weeks later than this year - so that will mean more colour, yay!

It's been a quiet few days at the Chateau des Wombats, on Monday morning Kevin went to the Big Smoke for an operation on his shoulder and will return tomorrow.  I stayed here keeping the home fires burning (not literally, it isn't that cold yet) and looking after the cats - who, by the way, were thoroughly spoiled by our house sitters.  All has gone well with the operation but somehow I don't think he has realised what life will be like being able to use only his left arm for a while......and he is very right-handed.

A feature of the festival is the number of workshops, the one on bluegrass gospel harmony singing was fun......a hundred people in a small room, by gosh we sounded great.......and a forum for broadcasters, which I attended.  Several performers popped in to the forum and distributed copies of their latest CDs which were gratefully received, so this Sunday's radio program will feature music from this year's festival and from past festivals too.  We brought eight CDs home with us but only paid for two, thanks to the generosity of said performers.

On the way home we had an interesting experience:  we stopped at a camp ground in Cowra, and late in the afternoon the manager rounded up all the guests for a 'happy hour' chat in the barbecue shed.  One woman arrived late, looked at me.....recognised me, and when she introduced herself I recognised her too......we used to play music together years ago, so later that evening she, her husband and I had a great little musical session much to the entertainment (we hope!) of the other guests.  We certainly enjoyed ourselves!

"Do not lack politeness.
Never hesitate in acts of politeness for fear they will not be recognized or returned.  One cannot be too polite so long as he conforms to rules, while it is easy to lack politeness by neglect to them.  Besides, if courtesy is met by neglect or rebuff, it is not for the courteous person to feel mortification, but the boorish one; and so all lookers-on will regard the matter."

The guests at the camp ground were very polite about our music, even singing along with us when they knew the songs we played, and were very courteous - which we appreciated.

Enjoy your days!