Back from the Cold Country

It was cold, too - about as cold as it is here today, it's not very nice......there is no sun, just grey clouds, but the sun will shine again one day.

My brother has been laid to rest in a peaceful country cemetery with tears and chuckles.  Tears because nobody likes to say a final goodbye, and chuckles because of anecdotes told about him by various people at his send-off.  Now there are just two of us, another younger brother and me.

Our motel backed onto parkland beside Quart Pot Creek, the creek which flows through their town.

 It was quite cold late in the afternoon.......

........although that didn't bother the local ducks.

On Saturday night Kevin and I attended 70th birthday celebrations for Bill who directs Thursday night's choir, and who has been a mainstay of theatrical and musical life in this town (and in many other places) since first treading the boards at the tender age of six.  The choir sang a song, a few of us who belong to both choir and uke group performed a song specially written for the occasion......Bill was really thrilled by that......lots of (fortunately mostly short!) speeches, and jokes, and fun.  It was a happy end to a week of sadness, and an affirmation that life does indeed go on.

Tomorrow's slow cooker dish will be beef cooked in dark beer with bacon, carrots and onions - just the thing for the cold day which is forecast.  The following day it will cook chicken, bacon and vegetable soup.  We don't buy ready-made soup, home-made is much nicer......and probably better for us too, as there in no added salt (unless the dish really needs it, which this won't - the small amount of bacon used will provide enough), certainly no added sugar, and nothing artificial at all.

Some of the stories told last week were about my mother, a woman who didn't enjoy cooking and wasn't, in fact, much of a cook - unlike her own mother.  My mother gladly seized on convenience foods as they arrived on the market, sometimes to the detriment of taste and flavour!  I can remember a packet of apple dessert which was supposed to be a layer of pastry, then a layer of apple, then another layer of pastry - like an open-sided pie.  What none of us realised (probably no one read labels then) was that there were two of these concoctions with a layer of cardboard in the middle to separate them.......we thought it seemed a bit chewy.......tinned soups were her best friends, and packet cake mixes weren't far behind.

The uke group is getting into some rock music, would you believe we play the Rolling Stones' song "Honky Tonk Woman"?  The idea of playing heavy rock on inky-dinky ukes appeals to our sense of fun.

Recently a cardigan which has been on the knitting needles for ages was taken up again, as a recovering shoulder didn't lend itself to the fine movement required.  One of these days it might actually be finished.  Pattern is "Peasy", and as it is knitted in one piece from the neck down there are an awful lot of stitches on the needle while knitting the body.......it is already the length required, I am just making it a little bit longer.  Finishing it will be a great achievement, let me tell you.

"Expensive dinners not the most enjoyable.
It is a mistake to think that in giving a dinner, it is indispensable to have certain dishes and a variety of wines, because others serve them.  Those who entertain frequently often use their own discretion, and never feel obliged to do as others do, if they wish to do differently.  Some of the most enjoyable dinners given are those which are least expensive.  It is this mistaken feeling that people cannot entertain without committing all sorts of extravagances, which causes many persons, in every way well qualified to do incalculable good socially, to exclude themselves from all general society."

Even inexpensive food can, and should, be tasty.........so long as the cook reads instructions before serving it.

Enjoy your days!

Ponderings

The Chateau des Wombats is not having a great week.  Last Friday morning my younger brother died after a short period in hospital.  I was the oldest of three children.......and now there are two of us.  We don't think about outliving younger siblings, do we?  Or younger cousins; one of my cousins died early last year and he was three years younger than me.  My grandparents all lived into their eighties but my parents were in their seventies when they died, and now one brother hasn't made it past his mid-sixties.

However, I have decided that I was put on this earth to accomplish a certain amount.......and right now I am so far behind, I can never die.  I'll be here forever.

So......sometime during the coming week we will be driving north to the Cold Country, to the town where my brother and his wife made their home several years ago, to say goodbye.

Yesterday it rained, and this was the view over our back fence - this picture wasn't taken yesterday, but that rainy day view is timeless.

A mob of kangaroos has been visiting, spending some time on the hill behind us.  We never tire of seeing them; back when we lived in the Big Smoke we never thought we would one day be seeing wild animals from our kitchen window!

Isn't that better than suburbia?  Peace and quiet and a lovely view instead of closely-packed houses, and traffic, and noise?

My mind hasn't been on sewing fiddly-diddly quilt blocks for the past several days, so they are still not quite finished - but as there isn't much left to do now, it won't take much work to do so.  Somehow they don't seem important.

Yesterday's rain and today's cold (it is freezing outside) are great weather for cooking.  Yesterday I made a huge pot of chicken and mushrooms in pinot noir sauce in the the slow cooker, and an aniseed myrtle apple teacake.  Today the slow booker (it's quite large) is cooking a big pot of pumpkin soup with green Thai curry paste and coconut milk, a wonderful dish for clearing out one's sinuses.  In case you were wondering aniseed myrtle is a 'bush tucker' flavouring; my packet was bought earlier this year in a town an hour north of here, at the Armidale Keeping Place.  First a cake batter is made and poured into a tin, then sliced apples are layered on top (the cake batter rises up round the apples), after half an hour the cake comes out of the oven and is sprinkled with aniseed myrtle powder, then it is popped back in the oven to finish cooking.  It is really really nice.......if you can't get aniseed myrtle the recipe would probably work with cinnamon, but it wouldn't be the same.

"Mourning for a brother or sister is worn for six months, two months in solid black trimmed with crape, white linen collar and cuffs, bonnet of black with white facing and black strings ; two months in black silk, with white lace collar and cuffs ; and two months in gray, purple, white and violet."

These days people don't seem to go in much for heavy dark mourning clothes, do they?  We often don't even have a funeral now, we have a 'celebration of life' and are asked to wear bright clothes instead of sombre black......but however it's done, it is still a farewell and tears are still shed.

Enjoy your days!

A finished project

Finished projects have been few and far between for several months, but hopefully will happen more now!  My top is finished, if you wear glasses you might want to make sure they are adjusted properly.  The fabric is a bit eye-popping......but rather gorgeous.

The front, it's a bit hard to see but the centre front is gathered to make a sweetheart neckline - pattern is Jalie's "Sweetheart Top".

The back, and as the print is asymmetric it was a wee bit tricky deciding where to place the various pieces so the pattern didn't form headlights on the front.  A viscose-blend knit in green, yellow and blue, and the green is much prettier than it looks here.  Green doesn't always photograph well, sadly.  The print design is bugs, moths, wings, and feelers; it looks as though the images were played with on a computer and this is the result.

Finished is a good feeling.

Now the project being worked on is the monthly block for my quilt group, last month's was a cutesy-poo owl appliqué and this month's is a cutesy-poo and fiddly-diddly pieced dog.  Fabric is supplied and we are asked to make two, one each with a red and a green background.  I don't mind making the blocks as they end up in charity quilts, but oh dear - cutesy-poo is difficult for me, and cutesy-poo and fiddly-diddly is even worse.  The fabric supplied is not good quality and one of them is a poly-cotton blend, so let's hope it doesn't melt when ironed.  Ah well, sewing it will keep me off the streets tomorrow, won't it?

The uke group had its moment of fame and glory a couple of days ago, and we even made the local TV news that night, and the front page of yesterday's paper, in all our glory.  For some reason I was the one the camera lovingly lingered on, double chins and all.......not a pretty sight, folks.......my fingers (and my gorgeous and somewhat expensive uke) were filmed in close-up while I was just noodling round on some chords, perhaps because no one else was playing at the time.  It's probably like many other skills - I know I'm not a marvellous player, but to someone who can't play a note it may have looked very impressive.

It's the same with sewing and quilting, isn't it?  We are critical of our own work, but when someone who doesn't sew sees a quilt we have made they are gobsmacked.  Blown away sometimes, even.  Does wonders for one's self-confidence, doesn't it?

This weekend is a long weekend for the Queen's Birthday, and I hope she is suitably impressed that her subjects on the far side of the world are having a holiday.  The monarch's birthday has been celebrated in Australia since the arrival of the first white settlers on the east coast in 1788.  Perhaps one day we will decide that we are a mature enough country to celebrate on our own behalf, and not on someone else's.

The following excerpt from my etiquette book shows how such matters stood in 1885.

"In Australia we have no titled or hereditary aristocracy.  The Australia colonies are, however, "Crown Colonies" at the present time, and will probably ere long be "confederated", and when that event occurs the title suggested by Sir Henry Parkes, late Colonial Secretary of N.S. Wales, may serve to bind them before the world still closer to the parent country, Great Britain, namely "The British Confederated States of Australia".  As colonists are constantly, to use an everyday expression, "going home" to England and visiting European countries, it is well to understand something of Regal and noble ranks and titles, and the order of precedence of the Royal family and of the nobility and gentry, etc., etc., etc."

Australia achieved Federation in 1901.  My paternal grandmother who never visited England in her life - indeed, who never left Australia's shores (although my paternal grandfather had migrated from England as a young man, and lived the rest of his life in Australia) used to talk about "home" - meaning England.  She may not have liked it much if she had visited, as England has long had the reputation of looking down its nose at 'Colonials'.

Enjoy your days!

Stitches are being made!

The top cut out last week is being assembled, now that I have worked out why my overlocker wasn't making a proper stitch.  Nothing to do with the overlocker, you know......it was operator error, pure and simple.  Early this year it was used to make a wrap to match my Mother of the Groom skirt, and as I hadn't previously used it to make a rolled hem the assistant at the local Bernina shop showed me how.  One has to move a couple of things, the cutting blade width and a little 'finger' which wraps the fabric round, to make the rolled hem.  One has had an overlocker since 1992 so of course one didn't look at the manual to go back to a regular stitch, did one?  Nooooo, one didn't.........I couldn't work out why the stitch was so odd, I had moved the cutting blade back but had forgotten about the little 'finger', which was still happily rolling fabric round.  Now it has been rectified  with the help of the lovely woman at the aforesaid shop, it is back to stitching like a dream.  The older Elna machine changed sole plates to make a rolled hem, this Bernina doesn't - different method, same result.

I do not ever never recommend unpicking a four-thread stitch on four-way stretch fabric ever but it was done without snipping holes in the fabric, which is a great relief.  The top is now proceeding along quite nicely and should be finished before too long.

On our visit last month to an open garden I was very taken with one of the plants for sale, an Australian native called Correa 'Dusky Bells', but didn't buy it as we weren't leaving for home for several days yet and home was a two-day drive away, quite a trek for a little plant.  After arriving home we ordered two plants from a local nursery and will collect them tomorrow.  I'm not a great lover of pink but this plant is pretty and delicate and native birds love it , so I am making an exception for it.

We already have two different correas - a white one, 'Alba', and a light red and cream one, 'Canberra Bells' - in the garden and both are growing really well, so we are going with the principle "if it works, stick to it".

One will be planted by the front steps replacing a banksia which has turned up its toes, and the other will probably go in the garden where our big tree was.  I miss that tree.  The roses don't miss it, ever since it was removed they have been growing like weeds; one of them was beheaded when the tree came down but you would not know it today.  Truly, I would rather have the tree than the roses - but when the blokes were removing its sad remains the boss said to me "lucky your roses didn't go, eh!"  Little did he know......the tree gave us welcome summer afternoon shade, the roses don't do anything useful.

Because of the current drought conditions we are only allowed to water our gardens with a hose for two hours a day, between 5 and 7pm.  It's getting quite cool now by 5 o'clock and is quite dark by 5.30pm so it's not great to be outside, but we do keep the bird baths in the back yard topped up as the birds enjoy the water and we enjoy watching the birds.  The front yard is having to fend for itself, although I am watering our lilli pilli every few days as it's still fairly new and needs water while it's getting established.  Once it's a little more mature it will be able to cope with dry weather.  There is rain forecast for this coming weekend and it will be very welcome, as our total rainfall for the year is way down on the usual average.  Local rivers and storage dams are quite low.

"Boating.
Where there is a sufficiently large body or stream of water to admit of it, boating is a very enjoyable recreation which may be pursued by ladies and gentlemen.  There is much danger in sailing, and the proper management of a sail-boat requires considerable tact and experience.  Rowing is safer, but caution should be observed in not overloading the boat.  A gentleman should not invite ladies to sail on the water unless he is thoroughly capable of managing the oat.  Rowing is a healthful and delightful recreation, and many ladies become expert and skilful at it.  Every gentleman should have some knowledge of rowing, as it is easily acquired.  If a gentleman who is inexperienced in rowing, goes out with another gentleman in a boat, he should refrain from any attempt to row, as he will only display his awkwardness, and render the row uncomfortable to his companions."

Not much chance of enough water in the local river to enjoy a pleasant sail these days, sadly.

Enjoy your days!

Eggs and omelettes

Wouldn't you like an omelette made from eggs in this nest?

   Might be a bit hard on the teeth, though.

It's an interesting artwork called 'Nest III' (I don't know where I and II are, or if indeed they exist at all) and is perched on a hill at the Arboretum, which we visited for the first time on our recent visit to Canberra.  It's made of discarded tools and pieces of farm machinery; I admire people who can see ways to use old stuff that might otherwise be discarded.  Size - it's big, much taller than I am.......which is not hard, I'm only five feet two inches. Or thereabouts.

Our taste of winter earlier this month was just that, a little taste.  Since then, days have been much milder although it does cool down at night.  No doubt when winter arrives it will hit like a ton of bricks.  Many locals are still in summer clothes, they are braver than I am because out of the sunshine it's not very warm.  Last week we saw a young woman wearing a summer dress with tiny shoulder straps, sandals on her bare tootsies........and a heavy woollen scarf wrapped round her neck and chest.  I felt like tapping her on the shoulder and saying "for goodness' sake, dear, if you are cold put on more clothes......do you know how silly you look?"  I don't think she would have thanked me.  But she did look silly.

Blue skin and goose bumps do not make for a good look in winter.  The same with bare legs.  What's wrong with wearing warm tights in autumn/winter if one wants to wear a skirt?  One can still look attractive while being warm, there is plenty of opportunity in spring and summer for baring one's flesh in public should one wish.  However, just because one can do something doesn't mean that one should.

Yesterday the scissors were wielded in the sewing room and a top was cut out from fabric purchased in Canberra.  Now all one needs is the motivation to sit down at the machine and sew it, but that will come over the next few days.  The fabric is rather yummy, a viscose-blend knit in blue, yellow and green with an interesting print of bugs and moths, but you have to look hard to see them.  The front was (hopefully!) carefully cut out so that the print won't be badly placed. Pattern is Jalie 2794 and this will be the second time I have made it.

Leaves on the we-think-it's-an-apricot tree in our back yard are nearly all yellow now, just a few touches of green are hanging on, and many of those leaves have already fallen.  In another week the tree will be almost bare, and the golden carpet on the ground will be turning brown and dry.  There are some trees in our street right now which are turning a rich dark purple-red but I don't know what they are called - they are really beautiful.

"Morning dress for street.
The morning dress for the street should be quiet in color, plainly made and of serviceable material.  It should be short enough to clear the ground without collecting mud and garbage.  Lisle-thread gloves in mid-summer, thick gloves in mid-winter, are more comfortable for street wear than kid ones.  Linen collars and cuffs are most suitable for morning street dress.  The bonnet and hat should be quiet and inexpressive, matching the dress as nearly as possible.  In stormy weather a large waterproof with hood is more convenient and less troublesome than an umbrella.  The morning dress for visiting or breakfasting in public may be, in winter, of woollen goods, simply made and quietly trimmed, and in summer, of cambric, pique, marseilles or other wash goods, either white or figured.  For morning wear at home the dress may be still simpler.  The hair should be plainly arranged without ornament."

Nothing there about heavy woollen scarves worn with summer sundresses and sandals, you notice.

Enjoy your days!

More autumn gorgeousness

Is there such a word as gorgeousness?  There should be.

 Fallen leaves, before they were walked into mush.

 Lovely red leaves.

Golden leaves.  I love taking pictures of fallen autumn leaves before they turn wet and slimy - the mix of colours is so pretty.  These were all taken at the open garden we attended a few weeks ago.

The current project on the sewing machine is a fiddly diddly applique owl block which will end up in a charity quilt.  It is very cutesy-poo.  I don't do cutesy-poo.  Fortunately it is nearly finished, just the coloured framing strips remain to be done.  It will be handed over at next month's quilt group meeting with a huge sigh of relief.  Hopefully whoever provides the block of the month in June doesn't go in for cutesy-poo applique, but I wouldn't bet on it.  When it's my turn they get a pieced block, with triangles.

Ah well.  The world would be a dull place if we all felt the same, wouldn't it?

Last week the newish car and I made each other's acquaintance, and so far the relationship is proceeding well.  I drive it to uke group on Tuesday evening and home again, and to choir on Thursday night and home again, and I am getting used to the controls being on the other sides because it is European.  Occasionally I turn on the windscreen washers instead of the indicators (probably much to the amusement of other drivers) but that is happening less and less.  So long as my right hand does most of the work and my left hand stays low, all is well......my shoulder is pretty much over its operation but still doesn't like sudden movements.  Any little twinges can probably now be put down to the fact that autumn is here, the weather is cooler, and things hurt more when it's cold.

Last Friday evening we had a lovely dinner at a (the) local French restaurant, and it was worth every penny.  It isn't the amount you pay, but the value you get for what you pay, isn't it?  The restaurant isn't open every night which is why we haven't been for a couple of years, as our 'occasions' - birthdays, anniversary - have been happening on their closed nights.  I had salmon and it was really yummy, Kevin had steak, and of course we had dessert, raspberry roulade for me and strawberry cream cake for him.

Another nine months until the next birthday in our household.......I'll be hanging out for that, you know.  I always enjoy a meal I haven't had to cook.  Not that I mind cooking, but as one has been cooking nearly every night for well over 40 years - the novelty of cooking wore off a very very long time ago.

"The table appointments.
A snow-white cloth of the finest damask, beautiful china, glistening or finely-engraved glass, and polished plate are considered essential to a grand dinner.  Choice flowers, ferns and mosses tastefully arranged, add much to the beauty of the table.  A salt-cellar should be within the reach of every guest.  Napkins should be folded square and placed with a roll of bread upon each plate.  The dessert is placed on the table amidst the flowers.  An epergne, or a low dish of flowers, graces the centre ; stands of bon-bons and confectionery are ranged on both sides of the table, which completes the decorations of the table.  The name of each guest, written upon a card and placed one on each plate, marks the seat assigned."

Does that sound like dinner at your house?  Because it certainly doesn't sound like mine.......

Enjoy your days!

Happy birthday to me.......

.........Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday, happy birthday -

Happy birthday to meeeeee!