Post 592 Flashes of colour.

A very pleasant lunch on Wednesday at my local, Cooper’s Alehouse at the Earl. While none of us took advantage of the only bar to have the full range of Coopers (Adelaide family owner since 1862) beer on tap, we really enjoyed our meal, the company, and our single glasses of wine. 

The rain held off. 

One of the Kilkenny mob has come down with COVID, so no family dinners this week. Fortunately the infection appears mild, will not interfere with her practice exams and hasn’t infected other family members. 

After all my stressing and planning around the monitor for WES, Margaret’s medical appointment on our July meeting day has moved forward, and she is now available for our meeting. We had a tentative plan to meet at the Guild today and test the positioning of power board, monitor and laptop. This didn't work out, but one way or another we'll manage. I also need to drop off my pink silk lipstick holder for the July Diamond Anniversary challenge.

Other than a bit of shopping and Pilates on Thursday, Saturday was my only activity day outside the apartment. Saturday began with a Certificate Workshop at the Guild, taken by Christine Bishop on Sue Spargo Style Applique. I had a great time messing around and getting carried away. As I had no other weekend commitments or preparation to do,  I kept stitching through the evening and all day Sunday, resulting in this pouch (which started out as a pincushion). The full account is in my embroidery blog.

I left the Certificate Workshop early to get to the St Margaret's Market before it closed at 1pm. I had some empty pots to hand over, and was looking for a couple of larger plants to fill two empty pots on the front balcony. Fortunately, when I arrived at 12.30, the plants, although packed up into boxes, were still available, so I nabbed two sword ferns. The two I bought a couple of months ago are thriving on the back balcony, so I'm hoping these will do as well. 

Yesterday I did a bit of planting and rearranging before running out of potting mix.  

Having completed the felt embroidery, I allowed myself the relaxation of knitting another beanie yesterday afternoon and evening. 

To find what I needed for the workshop on Saturday, I  spent around 3 hours sorting and organising threads, braids and a few beads - a good job jobbed. As a consequence, I have now cut out twenty drawstring giftbags from Japanese fabric I bought months ago, ready for stitching when the mood takes me.                        

I have also been progressing a Glazig design I had started, hoping to add it to the examples of Celtic embroidery for my upcoming presentation. It's finer work than I have done for a while.

Today continued a bit gloomy, but dry. A flock of Adelaide Rosellas descended on the trees behind the apartment at one point, but I wasn't fast enough to capture their flight - except for the flash of the last one to follow. 

A lot of noise, a flash of colour, and gone.

Pot 591 I dared

I was up early on Wednesday, cutting out and stitching the bag for the infamous screen so I could transport it safely for our trouble-shooting session. I got the basic bag made in time to leave home at 10.50, only 10 minutes later than I’d planned. 

I had made a protective slip cover for  the screen. The slip-covered screen fitted in the bag and the bag strapped up. It didn’t have  pockets and the front flap was loose, but I could carry it securely by the handle. At Margaret’s, after a cup of coffee and delicious Italian honey dunking biscuits, we connected my Mac using the HDMI cable had I purchased for the purpose, Margaret recording each step as we performed and checked it. The first trick, as Fionn had picked up, is that the connecting HDMI cable must be the only thing using the two ports on the Mac. Navigating to the external screen then takes several steps.

We disconnected my Mac and connected Margaret’s PC laptop using the HDMI cable that came with the screen. Two navigation steps and it connected - plug and play in action! Were we surprised? Yes. Were we triumphant? You bet! We inserted my WES Group USB, selected a PowerPoint presentation and were in business! If all else fails, we know Margaret’s laptop connects quickly and works. A baseline!

That called for a celebration of Margaret’s excellent minestrone .

At home I found bias tape and a zip, ready for stitching. The next morning I began before breakfast, adding a small pocket inside for cords and instructions, and a large, zipped pocket on the outside for a laptop. As the fabric is backed with wadding I used bias tape to cover all edges. 

I also added a third clip in the middle of the flap.

By now I had to rush to Pilates. No sooner had i got home than I had a call from the Coffee machine shop, to say my machine was ready.Back out again.

The two technicians came out to talk to me. They don't really understand what happened, but had descaled it and it was working. We discussed several possibilities, none of which make sense to me (and not a lot to them). They haven't had this problem with other customers. I seem to be having trouble interpreting the symbols on the screen. They have offered to visit my home if I have another problem, to see it in situ. I'm pleased to have it back, but I'm wary. Older machines have more direct instructions. If I continue to have problems I think I'll give it away. For now, however, I'm enjoying coffee.

           

I drank a couple of cups while working for about 16 hours on my presentation on Celtic Embroidery for WES. I've postponed this several times because of the sheer volume of reading required. I was scheduled to give it in October, but Margaret, scheduled for July, has had cataract operations and can't read to prepare hers, so we've swapped.

In addition to websites, I have 18 books, and needed to read them, or substantial sections of them, to find the big story thread. 

It took most of Friday and much of Thursday night, but I found it and now have a presentation with 34 slides, on my laptop, two USBs, my iPad and in the cloud, plus a bag with 18 books and  a few embroidered examples.

 

I am now ready to try the presentation on the new screen and hopefully use it on 9 July at the Guild. Unfortunately I'll need to manage the tech on my own on the day, as the Office Manager is on leave and Margaret has a medical appointment. I've worked out a back-up plan involving my Mac, two iPads and 4 printed copies of PowerPoint handout!

To give my head and eyes a rest I have knitted three more beanies. They are relaxing to knit and don't make great demands on my eyes.

On Sunday I skipped Book Club to go to a concert at Ukaria with Katherine. This meant I was home when the postman (presumably a contractor!) delivered my latest batch of 16 ply wool - another 1.2kg. Even in the 1950s there wasn't a Sunday postal delivery!

The concert, preceeded by soup and bread, was the result of a week long workshop that brought together an Adelaide choir chosen from The Festival Statesmen, Aurora and Adelaide Chamber Singers with Nobuntu, a 4 woman aCapella group from Zimbabwe.

It was an extraordinary performance -  Nobuntu's skill energising the combined choir and audience.

The winter solstice was just after midday on Saturday. 90 minutes later I took a photo of this Kangaroo Paw about to open on my balcony.  I haven't managed to grow one here before. It's a non-traditional  mark of the shortest day of the year!

Yesterday I risked hanging out washing. Although rain was forecast, it was sunny in the morning. I was in luck. The clouds had gathered but the wind was up by the time I hung it out. I tried to capture the vigorous movement. It was (just) dry when I took it in around 5pm. The rain has now set in for several days. Again, I promised myself I’d take a photo of the cooked meal, 

but when the time came my mind was preoccupied with carving and serving. There were five of us and this 4kg roast was the smallest piece of pork available in the cut I wanted, so Fionn will have plenty of cold meat to snack on today. The girls are buried in exam preparation, so an early night.

Today would have been Jim's 78th birthday. I'm grateful to family and friends who shared photos, memories and messages on Facebook. He loved sharing his birthday.

 

After picking up new orthotics from my podiatrist  I went to Haigh's chocolate outlet to stock up. I have finally finished what I bought for Easter. 

It has been a cold, wet day, so good to be home and warm.  I settled for soup for dinner. 

I haven't unpacked the chocolate, although I can hardly say I'm saving it for a rainy day! 

Post590 Do I dare?

         

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We had another good meeting of the WES Group last Wednesday. The Guild property was awash with activity in preparation for a Garage Sale on Saturday. The library team were meeting as usual but also sorting spare books for the Garage Sale. Phyllis and I snagged the last two on-site parking spaces and several members had to hunt for street parking, not easy with a building site in the block and tradie vehicles parked all along the street. Barbara Mullan showed us maps and photos from her trips to villages in NE India. For me the highlight was the superb collection of textiles she has accumulated along the way. It was no small feat to bring them along and pack them up again at the end.

We did, however, leave the place very clean and tidy. 

That night I captured the moonrise (unrelated fact!).

Because members of the Guild Executive were working alongside our meeting we learned that when the Guild’s new laptop arrives for the Gallery we will not have access to it, but the old one is being gifted to our group. This will work for a while but has spurred me on to explore the possibility of projecting from a laptop to a portable monitor so we can gather more intimately around a table. Much of my week has been spent exploring this, talking it over with our WES computer guru and two knowledgeable OfficeWorks sales assistants.

On Saturday morning I purchased an 18 1/2” monitor which connected to and operated directly from a laptop without needing to be plugged in, obviating the need for electrical testing and tagging, which was proving very difficult to organise. An hour later, while at the Guild’s Garage Sale (with Noisy Miners making their presence felt), I learned the Guild had several tagged and tested powerboards into which it is permitted to plug untagged equipment. After a bit more consultation with our guru, I returned the monitor and swapped it for a 27” one, better for group viewing.

On Sunday I plucked up courage to try the monitor. I got it assembled OK but the connection to my Mac proved elusive. While the HDMI cable fitted, the laptop and cable didn’t recognise each other. I tried the trouble shooting instructions, but no luck. I found it disheartening   

In the meantime, my coffee machine showed the cleaning sign. When I tried to follow the instructions, it displayed both the 'change filter' and the 'descale' signs- contradictory. I changed the filter, but nothing else changed. The manual says these two symbols together mean the machine is cold and needs wrapping in a blanket! The apartment temperature was 23C. I turned it on and off several times. It now indicated the bean container was empty. Nonsense! Further disheartened. Now I had two machines not working and speaking foreign languages. I did get the washing done, a couple of plants potted, chicken Marylands marinating,  rice cooked and in the fridge to dry out. 

On Monday I took the coffee machine back to Jura for service. There were varying opinions from the 2 sales assistants. I refused point blank to take it home to try any of their ideas. The machine awaits a technician. At the moment I don't care if I never see it again, and my plunger is getting a workout.

Last night, after dinner for 7, Fionn enthusiastically tackled the laptop to monitor connection, and achieved it in about 6 minutes. It appears the spare USB converter I keep on my laptop prevented the monitor cord connecting to the adjacent port.  Once we removed the Comsol USB converter, the monitor was happy to connect via the adjacent port and, after a bit of work with an awkward control toggle on the back of the monitor, we were in business.

I was over the moon. Fionn is my hero! I played with it for a bit after the troops left, but haven't yet tried to do it from scratch. Tomorrow Margaret and I are getting together to sort it out, and hopefully finish confident we can reproduce a display at the Guild from both an Apple and an Android machine. I have not as yet removed the clear film from the screen, just in case...

I did, however, after dropping off some Art works at Pack and Send for my brother, trek to Spotlight and buy fabric, webbing and buckles to make a carry bag for the screen.  Am I insane?

Fionn also tried on my supersized beanies for me. He has a reasonably large head. 

With Georgia's help we figured out the largest one (the not-a-teacosy) would be improved my folding the band in half. I'm going to stitch it down so it stays in place.

The 16 ply knits quickly and is certainly warm. These are anticipating more walkers next year.

I found time this afternoon to sit in the afternoon sun for half an hour doing Wordle and a couple of other puzzles. The  balcony is feeling good at the moment.

I feel relieved and thankful that I have support from family, friends, finance and businesses to keep following ideas. I fear (literally) that I am losing my grasp of changing technology and that will limit my output. That's scary, but help is obviously at hand. 

For now I shall try, in my small way, to keep disturbing, in the hope of improving, my little bit of the universe.

Post 589 Bookended

It has rained frequently most of this week, not something we complain about in Adelaide. The back balcony catches the benefit. It was Ken’s comment about this balcony being a perfect breakfast spot that confirmed my decision to buy when he inspected it with me before I purchased in November 2015.

The grey sky seemed appropriate for his funeral on Friday. It was good to be there with my daughters (and about 60 others), reminded, by a series of speakers, of the stages and stories of Ken’s life. 

I dug out some photos.These two reflect something of our association, one taken in the Grampians in January1980, the other Bali in August 2011. 

The joy of the week was being around my daughters.  Alison arrived Thursday night and left on Sunday. After the funeral the three of us met Brigid for lunch — a rare opportunity. On Saturday afternoon Alison helped Barbara navigate an unfamiliar computer - another rare opportunity, as was the lively family dinner hosted by Katherine and Anthony that night. What could have been a very low time was sustaining and uplifting - as, of course, Ken would have wanted.

Wednesday had been another quiet day of desk hostess duty at the Guild. I brought in the bins, got some stitching done and consulted a few books from the library on Molas (reverse appliqué embroidered panels from the San Blas Islands). I was able to read and make notes while on duty. I’m wanting to write up a bit of background to the cushions I made for Brigid. On the way home I visited Bunnings to buy some small plants and punnets to fill gaps. I planted the yellows in the one empty box at the back, hoping the doves will like them. A magpie lark seemed to approve.

I still have four largish pots for which to find plants.

I had cancelled last week’s Pilates in favour of the only available physio appointment. I had a call the evening before to say the physio had Covid - so I had a whole day to catch up on neglected chores and prepare for my guest. I made soup, shifted bags of embroidery projects from the guest room, did some shopping, planted my Bunnings purchases, cleaning away the old soil and pots, and did some mending. I’m specially pleased about the last.

In addition to repairing two merino nightdresses, I fixed the loose hook on  a coat hanger that's been hanging around my sewing cabinet for a couple of years. My grandmother made me 30 of these when I left home in 1969 and I still use most of them. Sometimes the hooks become loose. Often I can screw them back in. If the thread on the hook won’t grip, the wood is often soft enough to screw the hook directly into the wood a bit further along. When all fails (as it did here) I rebind the hook with tape and stitch it to the cover. My grandmother was no perfectionist- her stitches and decorations were quick and crude (yep, I learned a lot from her). She was into usefulness, mending, reusing and making do. I learnt that too.

It was a long weekend here - for the King's Birthday, so no family dinner here on Monday night. I bunkered down to blog, read and stitch a little, mostly trying for (not necessarily achieving) beanie improvements with the 16 ply Bendigo wool. You can read more here. '

I’ve also checked my tension and gone down a full needle size. I made another start while waiting for my car to be serviced this morning.

I arrived home to find these flowers waiting for me from a Guild friend, a response to recent posts.  So uplifting. I love the mix of cottage flowers with the native Eucalyptus cinerea🙏 I am blessed in so many ways, but especially with friends and family.  Gratias.

Balcony views still bring me pleasure every day and fittingly bookend this post.

Post 588 Nature and Nurture

 

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Sadness and reflection have lurked, kept at bay by routine activity, many conversations and flora. My sincere thanks to friends and family for sustaining messages of support. 

When the window cleaner left on Wednesday, the 11th anniversary of Jim's death, I visited Centennial Park Cemetery. As ever, the gardens are beautiful and the bird sounds around his Banksia Court area are uplifting and life-affirming.

The tree over Jim's ashes (right) is thriving as are the succulents. I take a couple of extra cuttings from my pots each time I visit. Some strike, some don’t.

The tree is laden with gumnuts.

I spent a bit of gentle time helping Barbara with forms, also with my daughters remembering times we spent with Ken and sharing photos. Health permitting, we will attend his funeral later in the week. 

Routines continue. My airconditioning unit was serviced - more thoroughly than ever before, every outlet checked, as well as motor, valves and electronics. The serviceman also checked and clarified how the bathroom extraction fans operate. When his report arrives I shall pass it on to the electrician who is still working on quotes.

On Friday I had Xrays and scans on a lump that has developed on my left foot. It turns out to be a ganglion. Benign - leave alone unless it rubs on shoe, when it can be injected. I seem to be prone to these. I had one removed below my ear when I was about 9 years old as well as the one recently removed from my hand for the second time.  At least I don't stitch or open jars with my foot.

I gave embroidery priority to the Kasia Jacquot bags, written up in my embroidery blog.

I have several more of these to go, and am really enjoying them.

I also bought a yarn pack for this year's Shetland Wool Week beanie. I had resolved to try it in two colours only, but when Yarn Trader offered a Jamieson and Smith pack I quickly grabbed one, but haven't started it.

I have been asked to be the after dinner speaker at the Guild's Country Conference, being held at Guild premises in the city in late July. Organisers are interested in the World Embroidery Study Group talks, so I've provided a list and agreed to do any of them. 

The last Saturday of the month is the St Margaret's Church Market so I headed off early in that direction, but a bit further, to West Lakes, to buy a double contour latex pillow recommended by physiotherapists (and hard to find in Adelaide) before calling at the church for plants. 

I haven't filled all my empty pots, but these (left )went some way towards restoring the balcony garden afree our hot summer. I had to empty old soil into compost bags and dispose of them before I could repot. 

Adding a couple of pots of blooms from a nursery (right) also helped. These have yet to be planted. There's a lot more to do over coming weeks, but recovery is well underway. .

There were interesting discussions at Book Club on Sunday, in particular relating to The Thrill of It by Mandy Beaumont. This is fiction 'loosely' based on a court case in which a man was convicted of murdering 6 'grannies'. The author has said she wrote it to give a voice to the victims and their surviving descendants. I ( and others in the Book Club) thought she gave a much more powerful voice to the perpetrator. I have always opposed censorship. If I had an incinerator I would have burnt my copy of this book. I felt contaminated by it. I do not want to be inside this man's head. I certainly don't want even a fictionalised version of him inside mine. Fictionalising true crime raises many issues.

I had time to think on it as I made moussaka on Sunday afternoon. I used pecorino in the sauce rather than kefalograviera. Pecorino isn't easily available in supermarkets, but kefalograviera is much harder to find. I also decided my usual 6 eggs was over the top, and settled for 4. While most of the dish disappeared, I think it was a bit sloppy. I'll return to 6 eggs in future. It was great to have a full 7 at dinner, and I extended the table with help from Brigid. I had a great conversation with Fionn about what he learned from his recent work placement.

This morning my fortnightly cleaners did their usual thorough and efficient job, before insisting on moving the extended table and quite heavy chairs to remove creases from the rug beneath. They don't like imperfection, and worry about me tripping. What service!

A dove is visiting again, choosing the only eastern balcony planter that needs a new plant. Maybe I should leave it free for doves.

At the hairdresser today, prompted by a discussion about unsolved Adelaide crimes, I explained my feelings about our recent Book Club read. 

My hairdresser's suggestion, which I came home and enacted, was to tear the book up and put it in the recycling to be transformed into something else. A few pages went into the compost bin, the rest to recycling. Job done.

It's been a week full of greenery and flowers. These flowers arrived from the Attorney General’s Department at the beginning of the week to thank me for the beanies. They are lasting really well, brightening my extended table - and my extended contemplations. 

Gratias.🙏