It's never too late!

This week two new skills have entered my life, thereby proving that you can teach an old dog new tricks......how about that?

Last weekend I arranged two songs into a medley for the uke group - a couple of oldies, "Ain't she sweet" and "Five foot two, eyes of blue".  Ukuleles were very popular in the 1920s and 30s and those songs date from that era; they are both fun to play and sing, and I felt they needed to go together.  I also found out that there are many other arrangements of those two songs on the internet so my idea isn't completely original, but most of those arrangements have one song followed by the other while mine takes elements of both songs and weaves them together.  Our teacher Young Michael thinks it's a very good arrangement (he actually said "great") and the other members liked it, so it will go into our repertoire.

Our musical son would no doubt turn up his nose at my modest achievement because he has done a lot of arranging, but then he had something I didn't - a proper musical education.  Because I'm mostly self-taught I am just so pleased to have attempted it and succeeded.

The second new skill, knitting with beads, is finally mastered.  I am making a Dragonfly Wings scarf (look it up if you are on Ravelry) and bought the beads ages ago.  There are over 270 stitches to the row now - there will be over 300 by the time it's complete - so a beaded row isn't quite speedy yet, but hopefully that will come.

We have a couple of uke gigs coming up and Young Michael wants us to play my arrangement - in public! in front of an audience! - but I won't be knitting with beads on stage, no matter how proficient I become.

Some Aussie native flowers to brighten up your day.

 I love waratahs - they are our state flower.  Sadly they won't grow here, the soil is wrong.

Waratahs growing wild in the bush are a lovely sight, I managed to get some in this photo.  Just.

I don't miss living in the Big Smoke, but I do miss being just an hour or so away from places like Mount Tomah botanic gardens where these pics were taken.

The painting is continuing, machine quilting on the maple leaf runner likewise - I had no idea what to quilt, but have decided on some maple leaves.  Once they are done they will be linked by swirls and squiggles and loops, hopefully the quilting doesn't look too disjointed.  Ah well......it won't ever be entered in a competition, so that's all right.

I have been trying to change my blog background for some time, but Blogger seems to have other ideas.  Anyone else having similar problems?

"Value of pleasing manners.
The man who succeeds in any calling in life is almost invariably he who has shown a willingness to please and be pleased, who has responded heartily to the advances of others, through nature and habit, while his rival has sniffed and frowned and snubbed away every helping hand."

As I read through my 1886 book of manners and etiquette I wish that many modern people would take note of its suggestions.  When did courtesy go out of style, I wonder?

Enjoy your days!

Staying cosy by the fire today

It's quite chilly outside, no wind - just cold cold air.  A good day to stay inside and do nothing, just veg out and read or sew or knit, or paint.  Or blog.

Not many of the old walls left to repaint now!  The bedroom hallway is done, the kitchen is next, and it doesn't have much wall space because of tiles, cupboards, fridge and all the other stuff that goes into a kitchen.  During the week we had some unseasonably warm weather, the fire stayed unlit for a few days so Kevin was able to scrape off the remaining wallpaper.......and now it's all gorn!!!  Finally gorn!!!  The forecast for the coming week is for more wintry weather, so that corner by the fire will just have to wait for its new paint.

There has been some progress on quilting the maple leaf runner.  There will be more in the coming week.  Genius can't be rushed, you know.

Some of the pictures I took last year in Ontario, Canada, which inspired me to make the maple leaf runner.

Fort York is such a fascinating place!  So old - it dates from 1793 - and right in the middle of a very modern city, with many original buildings still in place.  You can just see the roof and chimney of one.

 Isn't this interesting?  The orange side of the tree was - I think - on the south side of the tree, the sunny side.  The north side had a bit of catching-up to do.

 We spent a night in Midland, and this is the view from our upstairs window.  The late afternoon sun on those leaves made them glow like golden fire.

Also this week, a few books have been read.  I've always been a quick reader, and if a book really has me in its grasp I find it difficult to put it down.  One was "The dressmaker" by Rosalie Ham - we saw the movie late last year, just after returning from Canada.  Oh my, the frocks......I loved the frocks, that red silk frock she wore to the football......such a statement.  I like how the author uses clothes to delineate characters in the book, something the film stayed very close to.  Another book was "Bodies of water" by T. (Tammy) Greenwood, following one of Linda's recommendations.  The local library didn't have "Two rivers" but I reckon rivers and water are similar, so one would be as good as another.  It's a love story, but it's not mushy.  I don't do mush.

Much of my reading is mystery/detective stories because I like unravelling mysteries; some are 'real' books made of paper, and some I read on my tablet.  Many of the tablet books are freebies from a mystery book site that I pick up on their daily email, sometimes it is difficult finding books that appeal, and some days there are three or four, but the price is always right.  Subjects I don't care for include most 'cosy' (or cozy, if you are American) mysteries because they are quite short and are finished almost before they are started and I'm sure that not everyone who lives in a small community is as dotty as some of those folks are; "the world will end in three minutes if Our Hero and/or Heroine don't get to the switch/virus/madman in time" thrillers, anything labelled "romantic suspense" (I don't mind a bit of bedroom stuff but honestly, how relevant is it to the story really?) so that rules out anything with an unclothed muscular - they are always muscular - bloke on the cover; anything which entails chasing after the Holy Grail or some other relic suddenly reappearing after 2,000 or so years (really?  and you expect me to believe that no one already knew about it?)......you get the picture.  Just give me a policeman or a private investigator solving a murder with some forensic stuff and a bit of gore, and I am a happy woman.

Although I don't do serial killers.  They can be quite sadistic, and I don't like that.

"Manners and personal appearance.
A charming manner not only enhances personal beauty, but even hides ugliness and makes plainness agreeable.  An ill-favored countenance is not necessarily a stumbling-block, at the outset, to its owner, which cannot be surmounted, for who does not know how much a happy manner often does to neutralize the ill effects of forbidding looks?"

In other words, do not judge a book by its cover - even if if has an unclothed muscular bloke on it.

Enjoy your days!

There is no more pink!

Those walls are all cream now, and the whole house looks lighter and brighter as a result.  There is more painting to do but, as it means painting a lighter shade of cream over a slightly darker shade, it won't be as obvious.

Before buying this house we looked at others, and one thing we noticed was that coloured 'feature' walls were popular.  Brightly coloured bedrooms were too; one house had a lime green and deep blue bedroom (very teenage boy, but we no longer had teenage boys) and a fairy floss sugar Barbie doll pink and lilac bedroom which was enough to make one feel quite nauseous.  There were several reasons not to buy that house, those coloured rooms were just one.

In comparison, our pink walls were quite tame......but they were rather pink.

I don't mind pink flowers, so long as they stay outside.  I just don't want pink in my house, or on my person.

A pink rose which used to be in our front garden, when it was removed early this year we gave it to a neighbour.

 A pink nerine lily which pops up every year or so, a legacy from the previous pink-wall-loving owner.  The pink walls were a slightly deeper shade of this colour.

 I suppose this is deep pink?  A cyclamen which is doing well to this day, still in the same pot too.

 An Aussie native, Geraldton Wax Flower, a gift from a neighbour's garden.  A large clump was 'pruned' from their plant when a branch fell from a higher tree and broke this one off, so we enjoyed it until it wilted.

 The most heavenly smelling rose I have ever smelled in my life.  Such a shame it wasn't yellow.

 Isn't this interesting?  I have no idea what it is, we saw it last year in Toronto.

With the exception of the vase of Geraldton Wax Flower these were all taken outside.  Not inside.  That's quite all right, you know.

When I was a child my mother sometimes dressed me in pink, and believe me it wasn't a pretty sight.  Way back in the dark ages when I was young every mother's ideal little girl was a slightly chubby blue-eyed curly-haired blonde moppet.  I wasn't.  I was slightly skinny (but no longer, sadly) with auburn hair, dark brown eyes, and freckles.  My mother made it clear that I was a disappointment from the moment I crawled into the world, a fact made worse by the lack of blue eyes and blonde hair.  Some redheads look great in pink - I, alas, am not one of them; my skin tone doesn't take kindly to pink.

Now green, on the other hand......any shade of green.......or teal, or blue, or aqua, or peacock......even yellow, which is a hard colour to wear for some people, and orange.......black is good......not white, or cream, or brown.  I lived through the seventies, I did brown then, I don't need to do brown again.  The seventies were a very brown decade, weren't they?

The maple leaf table runner has had some quilting done, the leaves have been quilted in the ditch, and now I need to get artistic and swirly in the background.    Artistic and swirly aren't always natural for me, you know......it's much easier to draw a line with a ruler than to swirl freehand.

Following on from last week's quote from my 1885 etiquette book:

"There is no society where smiles, pleasant looks and animal spirits are not welcomed and deemed of more importance than sallies of wit, or refinements of understanding.  The little civilities which form the small change of life may appear separately of little movement, but, like the spare pennies which amount to such large fortunes in a lifetime, they owe their importance to repetition and accumulation."

Indeed.  How much nicer it is to be the giver or recipient of more than one kindness, even if it's only a smile.

Enjoy your days!

A foggy day.....in the Small Smoke......

Not quite as good as the original song!  The Small Smoke was enveloped, as they say (love those media clichés, don't you?) in heavy fog this morning, and it didn't lift until midday or so.  Usually fog burns off as the sun rises, but not today.  Our view up the hill looking slightly right:

 Looking left:

 Getting artistic here, taking in some of our garden as well as the hill:

Shame about the unlovely wire fence, but as the view is focused on it disappears from one's vision.

Out the front we could see the houses across the road - just - but nothing beyond them.  No glorious view of the valley, no distant hills, nothing.  Just wet misty whiteness.

One pink wall has gone gone gone!  The wall behind the computer desk, the largest of the pink walls, is now buttery cream......and it looks good enough to eat.  The entrance hall is now being done (Kevin is wielding roller and applying undercoat as we speak) and, with the removal of so much pink, the whole colour of the house is changing.  With the exception of doors and windows every wall in the almost-square entrance hall was pink, so as one entered the house one felt as though one was being gobbled up by a rose.  At night with the lights on it was even more noticeable.  Once the hall is done there is only one small pink wall remaining; once that is repainted all other walls, currently a darker cream than our chosen colour, will be painted to match.

I, for one, am looking forward to that!

Because life has been somewhat hectic lately the gorgeous autumn-toned variegated thread bought to quilt the maple leaf table runner hasn't even been wound onto a bobbin.  There might be a chance tomorrow......there's a possible small window of opportunity which is looking hopeful......all has not been completely untouched in the sewing room, however, as the ten black and white Winding Ways blocks which were cut out have been made up.  They, together with the 23 previously made, are reposing on the design wall, i.e. the spare bed.  It is looking good so far, she says modestly.  That quilt was to have 49 blocks set seven across by seven down and no borders, but now my mind is leaning towards a light (black on white) inner border then a dark (white on black) outer border.  It would mean purchasing fabric though and I am trying to just use what is in my stash apart from buying backing so we shall see........decisions, decisions......at least the binding fabric has been selected, an uneven black and white plaid which will be cut on the bias.

Making a completely colourless quilt is a departure from my usual cheerful choices.  It has been said that "value does the work but colour gets the credit" so here is my chance to prove it.  Some of my fabrics are dark when paired with lighter fabrics but lighter when paired with something darker so the interlocking circles of the design keep changing direction or disappearing, only to re-emerge somewhere else on the quilt.

That sounds as though I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it?

Don't be fooled.  I really haven't a clue.

"The importance of trifles"
Some people are wont to depreciate kind and tender qualities as trifles; but trifles, it must be remembered, make up the aggregate of human life.  The petty incivilities, slight rudenesses and neglects of which men are guilty, without thought, or from lack of foresight or sympathy, are often remembered, while the great acts performed by the same person are often forgotten."

Sadly, that is true.  How often we fasten on the negative, to the detriment of something more joyful and positive.

Enjoy your days!

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

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

It is really, really cold today

It was really, really cold yesterday too.  Barely an hour here from here it's been snowing all day, and pictures posted on a local facebook weather page are quite amazing.  For generations people have been coming to Australia for warm weather and sunshine......they won't find any here today, we haven't even made double figures in celsius temperatures.

These pictures were taken at Hanging Rock, about one hour's drive south-east of here, a few years ago.  Today's snow falls are much deeper.

 Warnings are out to avoid the area completely.  Road conditions are quite dangerous, and even 4WD vehicles are not recommended along many roads unless they have chains.

While I realise that quite a lot of the world sees much more snow than we do, it's quite a novelty for us!  The Small Smoke is in a valley so it's the higher country an hour to the south, east and north of us, and also a few hours west, which is getting its coating of white.  Snow has fallen here occasionally but usually it melts on the way down; the last decent recorded snowfall here was, apparently, in 1984.

It makes for good staying-indoors-and-sewing-or-cooking-or-reading-or-just-veging-out weather, which is what we're doing right now.  Kevin is reading, and I have just taken a cake out of the oven - a pumpkin spice cake with streusel topping, which we will try for dessert tonight.

Last week I ordered some Aurifil thread in variegated autumn colours to quilt the maple leaf runner, and it arrived on Friday......it is gorgeous, yummy enough to eat.  There are ten Winding Ways blocks cut out ready to be assembled, they might be done first then the runner will be quilted.  After that, those Winding Ways blocks had better be prioritised if the challenge quilt is to be done for later this year - that will be one UFO out of the way, when it's done.

On Friday night the uke group made its premiere inaugural first-ever debut playing in the local Eisteddfod and while we didn't win, we had fun.  Now that we know what to expect, we will back next year.  The audience seemed to enjoy our playing and singing, and one comment by the judge was that we blended well - that's good, it means no one stood out as, except for my playing of the introduction, there were no solos.  We even had people singing along with us, and several people came up to us afterwards to say how much they enjoyed our performance.

Who knows, we might yet become rich and famous.......in our dreams, I suspect......

Removal of the wallpaper cornice is proceeding nicely.  The corner near the fire will have to wait until the end of winter, for safety reasons - the fire can get quite hot - but nearly all the rest is done.  Even without the walls being re-painted the lack of floral borders really opens them up, they look so much less cluttered already.  The new wall colour will be a pale buttery cream.

"Here is the test of true ladyhood.  Whenever the young find themselves in the company of those who do not make them feel at ease, they should know they are not in the society of true ladies and true gentlemen, but of pretenders; that well-bred men and women can only feel at home in the society of the well-bred."

Indeed.  Like attracts like, it is said.

Enjoy your days!

Welcome to the weekend

It's a long weekend, which makes it even better!  Even though we've been retired for several years a long weekend is still exciting.

The big news here is - the pink walls seen in this picture are finally going.  (That's not a real orchid you know, it's a gen-u-ine imitation)  It will be a little while yet until they are gone, but the process has started.  There is something like 4,000 metres of pink and blue floral wallpaper cornice border around the walls of the entrance hall, kitchen, large family room and hallway leading to the bedrooms......all right, perhaps 4,000 metres is an exaggeration but there is still an awful lot, awful being the word, it's probably quite all right if you like pink, which I don't......and all walls of the entrance hall plus two 'feature' walls in the family room are also painted pink from floor to floral border.  For six years - yes indeed folks, it's six years last month since we moved here - I have been looking at those pink walls and wishing them gone.  Kevin has started scraping off the border first, a tedious job but one recommended by the nice young bloke at a local paint shop who said painting over the border would not be a Good Idea.  (I also suggested it but I'm not a paint shop bloke, so what do I know?)  It's a lot of painting to do so getting it done will be like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.....or in this case, one wall at a time.

A teaser of my table runner.  These are more my colour choices than pink is.

The wadding has been purchased, and once a couple of small obligations are out of the way it will be next.  Every time we use it we will be reminded us of fall in Ontario.The background fabric was purchased locally and compliments the autumn prints well, I think.

Autumn colours around town are looking good now that colder weather has arrived.  While our autumn/winter season is nothing like that experienced in some parts of the world, it's cool enough for us......and for local plants too, it seems.

You will be pleased to hear that the uke hasn't been so neglected this week, and the uke is hopefully happy about that too!  All together now, Stars shining bright above you, night breezes seem to whisper I love you......

Column inches have been written here lately about the current habit of people calling each other "guys".  I don't like being addressed as "guy"; I know it has crept into the language, and while I accept that change is happening around me all the time, I don't have to like those changes.  For instance, when Kevin and I enter a shop I don't like the sales person approaching us saying "Hi, guys".  I'm old.  It's not my word.  One meaning of "guy" dating from the 1830s is a grotesquely or strangely dressed person, and it is used thus in "The Mikado" written in 1884-5 - "And the lady from the provinces who dresses like a guy, who doesn't think she dances but would rather like to try".

Perhaps they aren't greeting us at all, but are passing comment on how we are dressed?

Oh dear......that makes it even worse.

"Good manners are only acquired by education and observation, followed up by habitual practice at home and in society, and good manners reveal to us the lady and the gentleman.  He who does not possess them, though he bear the highest title of nobility, cannot expect to be called a gentleman; nor can a woman, without good manners, aspire to be considered a lady by ladies.

Just remember those words when you are next in the company of other ladies.

Enjoy your days!