Squiiish........

........that will be me tomorrow morning.  Squish.  It's time for the dreaded mammogram.  Don't tell it saves lives etc etc, I know all that......I still find it a painful, humiliating and embarrassing experience.  However, over the past few days I have getting into the spirit of the test by slamming the freezer door on my boobs a few times each day and lying on our pebbled driveway these cold frosty mornings while Kevin drives the car back and forth a few times over my chest.

There is something really cringe-making about having to take off one's clothes and show one's bits in public, isn't there?  To me, that also includes medical procedures which requires baring parts of one's body usually covered by clothing.  Makes me come over all faint at the very thought.  When I was younger I wasn't so self-conscious about such matters, if it had to be done then it had to be done, but the body changes which have come about with age have also brought more reluctance to show said body to anyone, including medical people.  It's not a pretty sight, folks.

We need a nice picture to take our minds off such matters.

Taken in Bayfield, Ontario. last October........such a lovely little town!

The sewing project from the fabrics in the last post is coming along nicely in between uke practice, and sweeping the occasional floor, and cooking, and choir practices, and shopping, and volunteering, and presenting a radio program, and relaxing......but never mind, it will get done......what has been done so far is looking good.

Winter has returned this week, very cold frosty mornings and some fog in the valley below us.  Being out walking in frost is not for the faint-hearted but if I don't go because it's cold it becomes very easy to stop completely.  If I don't walk it's because I have an appointment which means keeping an eye on the clock......like tomorrow morning's test.  That means most days I am out and about, struggling home up the hill with the sun in my eyes, and breathing a sigh of relief when I walk inside and shut the door behind me.

We have started planning our next trip away in a few months, heading north to a small folk festival a few hours away then continuing to the coast and going to.......who knows where?  We don't!  We will make decisions when we get there, even though we don't yet know where "there" is.  Our house sitters are already booked, just need to buy our festival tickets.  My new uke will, of course, be coming along; our caravan is quite small but there is room for a tenor uke.  There is room for a guitar too.....always take my guitar to festivals, it wouldn't feel right to leave it behind.

"When a color is chosen which is favorable to the complexion, it is well to associate with it the tints which will harmonize by analogy, as to use contrasting colors would diminish its favorable effect.  When a color is used in dress, not suitable to the complexion, it should be associated with contrasting colors, as they have the power to neutralize its objectionable influence."  

Another thing about growing older is the changes in one's hair colour and skin tone, which in turn governs what colours one can wear  We don't think of these things when we're young and slender, do we?  But it doesn't matter how much my skin and hair change, I do not look good in pink.

Enjoy your days!

Happy news

Last weekend our older son and his girlfriend became engaged, we are very happy for them!  No wedding details as yet.  Hopefully it will be in their home town of Canberra and not some far-flung exotic - and expensive! - destination which involves flying.  We like Canberra, have many friends there and are always happy to visit.

The fabrics below are to make them a gift, it won't be a quilt but will be quilted.  They are both musicians, Son is a drummer and Son's Fiancée plays French horn, hence the fabric choices.  Once the black skirt is finished this project will be pushed to the front of The List.

All that remains on the black skirt is to sew a hook and eye on the waistband.  It is truly lovely, hangs beautifully when worn, and the fabric....gen-u-ine polyester damask brocade.....suits the style very well.  But black skirts - indeed, any black garments - do not photograph well so there is no point taking any pictures.  Then it will hang in the wardrobe awaiting a suitable occasion; its first wearing may possibly be next month when the ukulele group plays in a concert.

Wonder if the Mother of the Groom wears a long black skirt?  Probably not......oh dear, weddings mean photographs....how dreadful.  Wonder if it's possible to shed 20 kilos really quickly?  Just as well all eyes are on the bride.....

Lately the weather has not been at all wintry, nights and mornings have been cool but not too cold, however that is set to change this weekend.  We are even supposed to get some very welcome rain from tomorrow.   Considering it's supposed to be the dead of winter now it's really very mild so the change won't be unexpected.  The local birds have been more active and noisy than usual today, perhaps they are telling us something?

The road between here and town is almost finished now.  Since we moved here that road has been rough and bumpy, sometimes during the repair work it was even worse, but it is nearly all fixed now and will be truly beautiful indeed; we will feel as though we are driving on a cloud.  No doubt the local hoons will love it.

"Hotel California" is proceeding well.  I was playing along with it daily on you tube but found yesterday that the original version had been removed, bummer, however I was able to find another version by that band in the same key.  The speed is a bit quicker but I can manage to keep up.  Had to miss out on this week's uke lesson as the radio station was celebrating its 30th birthday and I couldn't be in two places at once, but I'll catch up next week and find out what pieces we will be playing at next month's concert apart from 'Hotel California'.  Many of the pieces performed by other ensembles and various soloists will be classical, so we could be the comic relief.

"Dress at wedding receptions.
At wedding receptions in the evening, guests should wear full evening dress.  No one should attend in black or mourning dress, which should give place to grey or lavender.  At a morning reception of the wedded couple, guests should wear the richest street costume with white gloves."

Oh dear, my wardrobe - sumptuous though it may be - does not include white gloves.  Or full evening dress, for that matter.  Might have to go shopping for either clothes or fabric and pattern......it probably doesn't do to wear one's daggy jeans at one's oldest son's nuptials.

Enjoy your days!

Nice

The world needs more nice at present, doesn't it?  So many nasty and sad things happening out there.  So this will be a nice post.

My zygocactus is flowering.  There are much prettier and more spectacular zygocactus in the world, but this one is mine.

 When we bought our last house in 1987 this was left by the previous owners and the pot it was in was disintegrating.  A chunk of plant fell off and I shoved it in this pot, a gen-u-ine orange plastic pot left over from the 1970s.  The original plant died off, the piece I planted kept growing.....but it never ever flowered.  I brought it with us when we sold up and moved here, goodness knows why.....yes I do know.  I wasn't leaving anything behind for our buyer after the hoops she made us jump through.  I had run out of nice by then.  It hangs on our covered back verandah, and has flowered every winter since we came here.

Perhaps one day it might even be planted into a more glamorous pot with new soil........or perhaps I should leave well enough alone!

 My little project is finally finished, a souvenir of last autumn's holiday in Canada.  It's called "Leaf Peeking" and will be used as a table topper.  With the exception of the pale background print behind the leaves it's all batik fabrics.....I love the border print.  It's a very gorgeous green.  Have I ever mentioned that I am quite fond of green?

A few times recently we have woken up to frost, the hill behind us is quite white, and some mornings the shady bits haven't finished melting by 11am.  Well, it is winter after all......the morning walk has been a bit of a trial on such cold mornings, but I am persisting with it.  Cloudy mornings are easier, because the last part is uphill and it doesn't seem to matter what time I go out, the sun always seems to be in my eyes when I am coming home up the hill.  However, I am not getting up at the crack of dawn just to beat the sun.  Mornings just don't do it for me.

So far the fingers haven't fallen off, the difficult chords are becoming easier with the daily (except when I occasionally forget) uke practice.  It's the barre chords which are still giving me trouble.  A barre chord is when you place the left index finger across all the strings at once - that's not so bad if it's only one finger doing the work, but when the other fingers on that hand have to hold down other strings too, well, that can be a bit painful.  At least the narrower neck on a ukulele is easier to barre than a guitar neck, I have never been able to quite get the hang of that.  My fingers aren't particularly short, but just a bit more length on them would make barre chords so much easier.

Ah well, can't change what nature gave us, can we?  If we could I would be a bit taller, my fingers would be a little longer, my hair would not be going grey, I would still have the slender figure of my youth.  At the folk festival at Easter a friend who is a few years younger said she admires me and hopes to be as good as I am when she is my age, she considers me to be a role model.  It was meant as a compliment and I took it as such, but oh my.....I hate getting older.  I hate the way my hair is white round my face but still has a lot of its natural dark auburn elsewhere.  I hate the way my waistline is but a distant memory.  I hate the wrinkles which make my eyes look so small now, when they used to be big.  I hate the way some health issues, thanks to inherited genes, are surfacing.  Bugger growing old gracefully.  As far as I can see, there are no compensations for getting older.  Not one.

Much is made in the media about young women and body image, but what about Olde Phartes?  Are we not allowed some regret for our younger selves, or are we supposed to just be resigned to the fact that our most attractive years are well and truly behind us, be thankful for small crumbs like my friend's compliment, and uncomplainingly put up with our lot in life?

And this was going to be such a nice post.

"Can any one fancy what our society might be, if all its members were perfect gentlemen and true ladies, if all the inhabitants of the earth were kind-hearted; if, instead of contending with the faults of our fellows, we were each to wage war against our own faults?  Every one needs to guard constantly against the evil from within as well as from without, for, as has been truly said, "a man's greatest foe dwells in his own heart".

Indeed, the world would be a nicer place, would it not?

Enjoy your days!

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

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

Berry berry good

These are Australian berries whose name is not known to me, photographed in the garden of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra a few years ago.  They are dark blue in colour.

These are purple berries in Butchart Gardens, Canada.  On checking their list of plants I found out that this is Callicarpa Americana, and its berries can be used to make jelly.  The colour was very vivid against the more muted autumn colours in the gardens.

 My friend Lois held a spray of berries so I could take a close-up,  I have never seen those berries before.

Some plants have bright red berries in autumn, we saw those too in our wanderings in Canada.  We often tend to focus on flowers for garden colour, but berries can be just as pretty.  The berries on this bush were quite small, oval shaped, and very red.

The leaves were also very red - I think it is called Burning Bush because of its autumn colour.

Winter has well and truly arrived here at the Chateau des Wombats, yesterday and today have been quite cold.  Today has been overcast, chilly and dull with no sign of the sun until it finally peeked out from the clouds after 3pm.  Don't know why it bothered at all, there is no warmth in it.

A small project is being worked on in the sewing room as we speak, one bought last year in Canada.  Pics will be taken when it's done so you can all admire it.  After that, the black skirt will be made.

Uke group is on holidays for a few weeks, the local music school follows school terms for its teaching terms.  You will be pleased to know that 'Hotel California' is proceeding well, the fiendish chord changes are becoming easier, and my fingers are still firmly attached to my hands.  One of the teachers, Sam, has an interesting program on his electronic gadget pad thing that lets him slow music down, but it doesn't change the pitch at all.  Usually when you slow music down the pitch alters too, it becomes lower, but this doesn't happen with Sam's gadget.  It is much easier to play difficult chords at 80 % speed than at full speed.  It would be a very handy gadget to have, perhaps there could be one in my far-distant future.  On the other hand I have managed without it all my life, do I really need it now?

Probably not.

A few weeks ago I didn't use a mitt when taking a bowl which had been used for melting butter out of the microwave, because they usually don't get terribly hot - but this one did.  Burnt the side of the middle finger on my right hand and oh my, it hurt.  It was still hurting a few hours later, even though I held it under cold water for a while.  A blister came up and I was being super-dooper extra careful not to break it, but unfortunately a few days later it tangled in my wet hair in the shower and broke by itself.  I kept it covered for another week or so until it had dried out and new skin had grown; there is new pink skin there now but it still hurts if bumped.  It must have been quite a deep burn for its size.  The things we do to ourselves.......

"Burned eyebrows.
Five grains sulphate of quinine dissolved in an ounce of alcohol, will cause eyebrows to grow when burned off by the fire."

I suspect one would have to stand very close to a fire or do something very silly to burn off one's eyebrows.

Enjoy your days!

Back in the Small Smoke again

No doubt about it, travel is good, one gets to see interesting places and meet fascinating people.....but to be back in one's own bed with one's own pillow under one's cheek is bliss.

Had fun last week in the Big Smoke, at the craft show and associated quilt show......oh my, the standard of quilts this year was very high.  Quite a lot of repro quilts so that style is still hanging round, not so many of the shabby chic style so perhaps that's on the way out?  Not even a lot of bright quilts this year, many colours were quiet and muted and the country colours from several years ago seem to be making a comeback.  Should you so desire you can view the winners here; this page shows the Special Awards, if you click on the headings "Professional", "Amateur", "Open" and "Junior" you can see all other winners.  The quilt which won Best of Show is really exquisite, and I can honestly say in all my years of attending quilt shows......over 25 years, now.........I have never seen one quilt win so many awards.

This is the usual view looking up the hill behind our house, our back fence is in the foreground.

 A few times this week it has been replaced by a very different view.

Foggy and frosty mornings are here to stay for a while now.  Fog can be quite eerie, can't it?

Progress is being made on a new skirt.  The Monday night choir's performing outfit for women is black pants or long black skirt, and a white shirt.  I have always worn pants as I don't own a long black skirt, but recently decided that a long skirt could be handy for times when the musical director decrees that all the women in the front row should wear skirts, because "it makes a nice line"........as she did with just a few day's notice for last year's Christmas concert, which I didn't take part in because I missed too many rehearsals while we were in Canada.  Because I am short I sometimes sing in the front line - we are arranged by height - I have been keeping an eye out in the local op shops (thrift shops) but so far haven't found a long black skirt in my size.  Never mind, thought I, I shall make one.  So a pattern has been duly bought, and some black fabric, and the pattern is currently being tweaked to take four inches (10 cm) off the length before the fabric is cut.  Yes, I am that short.  Extra wide black fabric is in short supply here but a black damask found in the curtain/upholstery section will do nicely; the skirt is flared and the front is seamless, hence the need for wide fabric.  It's not because I am huge.  Even though I am not the slender little thing I used to be.......sigh.

Road works between here and town are proceeding well.  Like most of the locals we have been taking the "short term pain for long term gain" point of view but we will be so glad when it's all done.  I feel sorry for the people living along that road, the dust from the various digging and scraping machines must be awful at times.

The uke group is getting brave, our latest piece is "Hotel California" which has some fiendish chord changes. Never mind, either they will get easier with practice or my fingers will fall off, which is more likely.

"Evening dress for ladies.
Evening dress for ladies may be as rich, elegant and gay as one chooses to make it.  It is everywhere the custom to wear full evening dress in brilliant evening assemblages.  It may be cut either high or low at the neck, yet no lady should wear her dress so low as to make it quite noticeable or a special subject of remark. Evening dress is what is commonly  known as "full dress," and will serve for a large evening party, ball or dinner.  No directions will be laid down with reference to it, as fashion devises how it is to be made and what material used."

No low necks for the choir ladies, our dress is so modest as to be a teensy bit boring.  There is also a long scarf knotted in front with the ends hanging down......as I said, boring.  At least it's not beige.

Enjoy your days!

Falling out of fall.........

....and into winter.Winter has arrived, frosty mornings, fog and cold nights.  Warm clothing, and cats spending their time by the fire.

Although these pics were taken on our visit to North Bay, Canada, last fall they could have been taken here today......even the Queensland Blue pumpkins, which are available here now!

 I love the idea of decorating for different seasons, Australians don't do much of that except for Christmas.  I haven't seen these interesting shapes and colours of squash here either.

 It was a very tempting pile of orange goodies!  But you will be pleased to know that we obeyed the signs and did not grimpez sur les citrouilles.

The walking continues.  There are several dogs hereabouts who also trot round on their morning walk, one little terrier drags his hapless owner along as though he has the world to organise and needs to get home quickly to do it.  One nods one's head and mumbles "morning" to other walkers, who smile and cheerily reply.  One does not wave and smile a cheery smile back at them.  They should consider themselves lucky to get a mumble, really.  I am not doing it to improve my social life.

Those autumn leaf blocks were won by someone else, which was a shame as I quite liked them.  But as the fiddle factor involved in making them is more than I can be bothered with, it's probably just as well; I shall stick to my Bear's Paw blocks made using my gorgeous autumn leaf prints, which are a leisurely leader and ender project.  No hurry to get them done and made into a quilt, because I still haven't decided on a setting for them.......although ideas are percolating in my little brain.  Ideas involving lots of small squares.......

There will be no blog post next week as I will be visiting the Big Smoke, staying with my friend Nola and attending a quilt and craft show.  One of the few things about living here in the Small Smoke is the lack of local quilt shows, although there will be one in a month in a small town an hour north of here.  Most of big city life I don't miss at all.  Certainly don't miss the traffic, which by the time we moved out was horrendous.  Here, if there is a line of six or eight cars during what passes for peak hour.......that is considered really bad by the locals.  We laugh.  Ha ha, we say.  These people do not know heavy traffic.

Meanwhile the road construction between here and town continues, and sometimes can be rather exciting.   We had some good rain last weekend and the potholes which it opened up in the little strip of road we have to drive on made for interesting driving, especially with a large truck or semi coming the other way.  Did I mention that little strip of road is quite narrow in parts and carries two lanes of traffic, one each way?  During the day the lanes can also swap and change, which makes for even more excitement when the lane we drove on going into town has changed completely by the time we come home an hour later.  If only the road could be closed completely it would probably have been finished some time ago, but as it is the main (almost the only) way into town for many locals, and is also a minor highway leading north, it has to be kept open.

Life is never dull here, folks.

"Never turn a corner at full speed or you may find yourself knocked down, or may knock down another, by the violent contact.  Always look in the way you are going or you may chance to meet some awkward collision.  People are very rude and vulgar who do not look the way they are going; it annoys others.

Although this advice was meant for pedestrians it can also apply to some of the drivers with whom we are sharing our de-constructed road.

Enjoy your days!