Post 307 Happy New Year

 

The poinsettia has been a very cheerful and inspiring seasonal reminder and touch of brightness, especially in the late afternoon with the light on it. I'm very glad I bought both the plant and the stand when I did.  It works whether I focus on it alone, or if I see it set against the city skyline.

I washed and hung out towels this morning. Black Tips and Blush were hanging around, even when I went outside, although they didn't stay there long while I was outside. Blush settled in for a good bask in the sun.

I was so absorbed in finishing off little bits of  Lady Anne's Flowers that I missed the Postie's buzz and found a card in the letterbox to say my parcel will be at the Post Office for collection after 3.30pm. Since this was our Sit'nStitch afternoon I didn't want to cut it short to get to the PO. I worked out it was an extra pair of jeans I ordered after the first pair were so good. I can wait till Tuesday for those.

We had a relaxed, conversational Sit'n Stitch, Susan working on her Anna Scott panel, Jennifer testing out the first motif for her very ambitious crocheted blanket and me working a couple more crocheted squares. I finished the second one at home after I'd called my brother. Like me, they are having a quiet night at home tonight. They had to cancel a planned dinner at a friend's place because the limit of guests in homes in Sydney has been changed from 10 to 5. Hats off to them, and to the vast majority of Australians who change their plans, and simply comply with the regulations to ensure we get and keep this virus under control.

I cooked myself (well, heated the oven and heated for 12 minutes) one of the Luv a Duck duck breasts I had in a vacuum sealed pack in the fridge and had it with salad. The second breast will do cold tomorrow.

It was a very mild, glowing, shadow-puppet kind of sunset - not inappropriate for the last one for 2020.The little black mark in the sky on the right hand shot of the park is not dirt on your screen, but a bat flying home to the Morton Bay Fig tree to roost. I've been trying to snap one for ages. Not spectacular - but real!

Well before midnight I had reached a point where I needed to move my hoop. I can't usefully reach the edges.

So here I am at midnight with a new section - but part of the whole, ready to go. There were supposedly no fireworks in Adelaide tonight, but I can hear some and the Sydney fireworks are being broadcast (obviously on delayed transmission). 

Peter Furze, a second cousin who lives in London sent me a reminder of Tennyson's poem tonight. Published in 1850, it's not a bad message for last year - 2020, even in Australia, where this is certainly not a frosty night.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Post 306

This afternoon I visited Centennial Park and the resting place of Jim's ashes. I haven't visited  since April, mainly because I've been restricting my movements, especially through Winter. 

The tree has grown a bit. The gum blossoms are now further from the ground. It looks good. The gum nuts are looking great and the shadows obligingly fell in a heart shape around the plaque. I added a couple of new succulent slips.

The gardeners have done a fabulous job throughout the pandemic.  There are more inspired plantings, some spectacular blooms and bird sounds everywhere. It is a peaceful and calm place to just sit and be.  I'm pleased I went today, and pleased we chose this resting place.    

This morning there was an unannounced courier delivery - the fourth volume of my blog in printed form from Blog2Print,  ordered on 9 December and dispatched from Michigan.  I guess that's not bad for this time of this year.

Incidentally, as this is a leap year, there are now 60 more posts to go to fulfil my 1 year commitment.

The bag that Carol gave me for Christmas is proving to be just about perfect for holding the Appleton's wool for my Lady Anne's Flowers. Because I am working with my own colours I have a fair number of colours selected. I chose a small group of them for each section I work on. This roomy but secure bag works really well.

I worked on the bluey spray of leaves with a selection of three threads, and then the stem of the flower. The colour of the multi-coloured leaf in the lower right needs a bit more work when I shift the hoop. It's too close to get my needle in freely.

This was taken before dinner, but I took advantage of the good evening light to photograph it.

I managed to stitch some buttons on the waist of some bamboo pants I bought a week or so ago. I try not to buy pants without pockets, but couldn't resist these. The buttons and pouch are a trick taught me by Barbara Mullan. 

I also posted the latest - and at the moment the last - of my Baby Boomer Teacher Conversations.

This is where I finished up at the end of the night. There is about another day's work before I move my hoop to finish the edges. I am really enjoying this piece. 

Tomorrow is our Sit'nStitch at Grange. This piece may require a bit more concentration than I can manage while socialising. Perhaps I'll confine myself to crocheted squares.

Post 305 Mostly birds and bras

It began with a visit from Turtle. He walked around a bit, drank water and pecked at the seed. Before long, Black Tips arrived and did the same.  Turtle retreated to the rail and ignored the intruder.

When Turtle flew off, Black Tips replaced him on the rail, keeping watch.  The flapping sheets were ignored.                                                                

 Then Blush arrived.

It was a bit of a rendezvous. Blush and Black Tips kept their distance and silence, eventually dropping down to drink and eat seed before one flew off. Thoughout the day, one or another came back for a relaxed walk around. Do they just like the view and ambiance or are they nesting nearby? Why did Turtle tolerate Black Tips? Are they related? 

In the early afternoon, a Magpie Lark visited briefly, hopped around the rail and flew away. They eat insects and worms so have no interest in either the plants or the seed. After I'd taken the photo I realised Black Tips was also there, eating seed, seemingly uninterested in the Magpie Lark.

There is a great deal about the bird world that I don't understand.

A parcel arrived this morning, two bras I had ordered online from Taking Shape. They didn't fit. When I was managing The Orphanage Teachers' Centre in the 90s, the female staff were very amused that I ordered bras online. I should have learned my lesson, but it's worth trying something again after 30 years!  

I needed to go out to get the milk and grapes I couldn't get yesterday, so went to Unley and returned the items to the Taking Shape shop for an in-store credit. The sales assistant was most helpful. The best bra-fitter in the State, she told me, is Kaz at the Taking Shape Mount Barker store. She fits most of the Taking Shape workers. The idea is to go to Mount Barker to be fitted, choose the perfect bra, then order online thereafter. Sounds like a plan if I feel like driving 34km to Mt. Barker.

It was another really lovely day in Adelaide and I spent a good deal of if working on Lady Anne's leaves. This was the progress by dinner time. 

I had, by then, moved from the Eastern to the Western end of the apartment, not before I'd captured a bit more of Blush's exploration and Black Tip's drinking.  Oh, and I did bring in the washing.

Tonight's moonrise was more interesting than sunset.

This is where I got to just before I finish this post and head to bed.. No crochet today.

Post 304 Grange

This morning I did a load oI washing and finished reading Aaron Elkins' Curses - another in the series featuring forensic archeologist Gideon Oliver. It's not particularly special but interesting and engaging. I'll probably work my way through the series. 

I've been diligent with my eye drops, heat pads and night cream. There is definite improvement, so I need to keep it up. 

Katherine took me to lunch at Grange Jetty, along with Niamh and Veronica. It was a lovely day - sunny, but with a good breeze that kept the temperature down to a 20C max.

The Cafe was busy but Covid requirements under control. The young members of the owners' families were all in evidence working as wait staff.  I had a seafood pizza, which was excellent - fresh sardines as well as prawns, scallops, calamari and fresh baby tomatoes. 

I really like this place. Today it was a bit noisy inside, but it is still relaxed, with good food, great views and good company.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the day Jim and I married.  We were very fortunate to have 44 wedding anniversaries and to know each other for 46 years.

To borrow from Richard Rodgers:

All of my memories are happy tonight.  

We had coffee at Katherine's place. I got to inspect the new beds with their covers. Anthony was building his beehive and Fionn preparing himself a gigantic egg salad. Katherine progressed her knitted shawl and I began another crochet square. In the interest of doing the right thing by my eyes, I had worn old prescription sunglasses in the car (I don't often wear sunglasses - but I'm trying to improve) and forgot to change when I came inside, so had a choice of crochet without glasses or with dark glasses. 

I didn't get far, but finished these two off when I got home.

 I tried to call at North Adelaide on the way home to buy some grapes and milk but the Metropolitan Fresh greengrocer was closed. I should have figured that. It is Proclamation Day in South Australia - the day the Colony was proclaimed in 1839. Neither item was critical and can wait until tomorrow.

I've worked a little more of the Crewel leaves. This is a very pleasing design to work although I'm finding it slow. It is all about shading, and I'm working to my own colours, so experimenting as I go. There's no reason for speed, so it's relaxed. The photo doesn't really show the variation.

I might get a run on tomorrow.

t's heating up according to the forecast. Tomorrow is forecast as 25C and increasing to 31C by Friday and the weekend. That's not too bad.

Time for my last eye treatments on a gentle and pleasant day.

Post 303 Largely plant based

After two late nights I made up for lost sleep last night. Breakfast was definitely brunch!

The hopeful visits from the young dove pair and from Turtle went without reward while I played around with the PowerPoint I've been working on. Only when I finished it did I venture out to water the plants and refresh the seed.

This section of the wall garden is doing particularly well.

The purple petunias have come into their own, making up for the greening of the jacarandas, 

although there is still a tiny patch of purple on the one behind us, above the geranium flower against the roof.

Around town, at ground level, agapanthus have taken up the purple cause, but I don't have a photo.

Katherine, Niamh and Veronica called in this afternoon after their shopping trip to finish off the Great Bedding Change. Good to see them. 

After their visit I managed to transfer the philodendron they gave me for Christmas into its pot. 

While dealing with dirt I removed a dead pelargonium from its pot on the front balcony. Disposing of the old soil and dead plant is tricky from a balcony. It took 4 recycling bags and a bit of mess to dispose of one dead plant. I had planted it directly into a ceramic pot - a mistake. It’s easier to dispose or replant from a plastic pot placed inside the ceramic one. 

There are two more I need to deal with, but not today.

Yesterday I watched Stan Grant's One on One interview with Poh Ling Yeow the Adelaide-based  artist, presenter and chef who came to fame through Masterchef. Much of the interview is about identity - Poh's insistence on working out for herself who she is, without reference to expectations or stereotypes of a Malaysian-born woman. I was struck by an image that Poh carries with her, of being in the playground of her first school and seeing the sun glint on the blond hairs of another girl's arm, turning them gold. Poh carried this with her as an image of what she wanted for herself and was never going to get - golden arms. 

It is a fabulous interview, a profound insight into how we can construct and evolve identity with integrity - and the struggles that involves. Both Poh and Stan Grant contribute to our understanding.  For Poh, that moment and its retained image is a realisation of difference. It strikes a chord with me because I hold an image from around the same age - visiting the Botany Post Office with my mother. She was holding my hand as we arrived. At the same time another mother and young girl arrived, similarly holding hands. I think I was 4 years old - prior to going to school. Suddenly, seeing that girl and her mother, I had a flash of insight - that girl was like me, she had a life, could think, feel,  move and do.  The world wasn't me interacting with my family and the places I knew. There were other beings like me in the world. I still hold the image of the four of us converging at the Post Office.

I'm interested in that notion of image, place and revelation.

I caught up on the news while working another crocheted square.

I added a leaf and some stem to the Crewel while watching The Kominsky Method which was OK. I tried Jessica Jones but didn't last 15 minutes. 

I'm heading to bed at 11pm, hoping to get myself into an earlier pattern of sleep.

Post 302

 

Today's excitement was a fire alarm in our apartment block at about 7.50pm. It got progressively louder. I met my neighbours outside our doors and we went down the stairs, meeting up with the first floor tenants on the way.

The fire brigade was there and all the residents on the street. My immediate neighbour was barefoot in a nightdress and dressing gown - we were all in good humour. After checking, the fire brigade decided it was a fault in the external control box for our fire alarm. They have isolated the faulty part and will replace it tomorrow. 

I had been eating my salad and lamb cutlets and watching Dolly Parton's Christmas in the Square. I grabbed my handbag and keys, hesitated over the briefcase that contains my passport and birth certificate, but left it. Somehow, rescuing my passport didn't seem important at the moment. When I got back Dolly was still dispensing angelic wisdom. 

It was quite nice to meet my neighbours in a brief encounter that ended well.

Last night, after my blog post, I called my friend Christine in Watford. She had to turn down Once in Royal David City on her radio so we could hear each other. We had a good old catch up. When we had finished I scanned a pamphlet I'd promised her, put in my eye cream and got to bed about 12.30am. This morning I followed up on the Shetland Virtual Wool Week 2020 , subscribed to their newsletter and ordered a copy of their 2020 Annual 

I also finished another square while waiting to get through to Christine.

Christine had attended her Zoom church service, and was about to have her lunch and listen to the Queen's message.  I went to bed full of Christmas blessings.

I missed the sunset tonight between the fire alarm and Dolly Parton restoring order to the town. This was the sky at 6.40 pm. Strangely grey, but quite special - a bit reminiscent of Dolly Parton's version of an angel.

I worked on Lady Anne's leaves this morning. Much of the afternoon and evening has been spent playing around with photos for a powerpoint project. 

There's not a lot to show, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Post 301 Christmas Day

My friend Christine in Watford was inspired by my Wise Men to get out her Christmas decorations. I woke to find photos of her hearth and this fabulous Lorna Bateman ornament Christine made a while ago. I really like it. 

Blush joined me for breakfast then spent a long time sitting on the lower rail. 

  

We gathered at Katherine and Anthony's place around 12.30 - Anthony's mum Carol and I, plus the six of their family. We had some catching up to do, and then presents. I didn't take many photos. Everyone was pretty happy. The girls all got queen sized beds and all the linen to go with them for Christmas - hence the secrecy on Wednesday while these were delivered and stashed in the shed.  Moving the old ones out and new ones in will take, I think, a few days. Fionn got an addition to his gym equipment. Part of Anthony's bee suit can be seen in the left corner in front of Niamh and next to the box of cherries. The bee suit goes with the hive Anthony needs to construct from the contents of the box under the suit.

Veronica spent quite a bit of time working out a Japanese puzzle box I had been unable to do. She persisted until she got it out. After lunch both Fionn and Niamh did the same.

These are the presents I received. I need to pot the philodendron into it's pot tomorrow. The bag at the bottom was made for me by Carol. She comes up with great designs. This has a terrific shape - like a bishop's mitre, a lot of room inside but folding absolutely flat. I can see myself taking a pattern from it.

Katherine took this photo of us all at lunch. 

                 

We had an entree of ham, eggplant parmigiana and salads, followed by roast pork and potatoes. This was topped off by the two desserts on the right, the pavlova made by Katherine and the chocolate yule log made by Carol. The photos are not very good but do show the sun protection cream that is an inevitable accompaniment to Australian outdoor meals! 

Back at home I had a lovely long conversation with Alison during which the two young doves visited. While writing this blog and wresting photos from one device to another I've watched the Queen's message and the part of the Royal Variety Performance -  very spirit raising. 

I'm now on to Midsomer Murders: The Christmas Murders, of course. 

I've never been fond of 'Merry' in association with Christmas because I associate it with excess alcohol and triviality rather than peace and goodwill.  

I notice, however, that the Oxford dictionary gives "happy and cheerful" as the definition, in which case, I can say I have had a very Merry Christmas - something to be cherished in these times. 

I wish the same from Hurtle Square to all family and friends.