Post 71: Friends

First up today is the mystery of  the plant on my balcony that a friend suggested was a the Lachenalia, unusually flowering in Autumn. Another friend contacted me this morning to suggest it is in fact a Aloe.  I've checked it out and it is Aloe ciliaris. Many thanks to both friends for their help. I love the way information gets shared in the blogging community.














I had another identification challenge when a new bird came to investigate my balcony (Yes, that is two photos of the one bird). It ate a few grains of seed, but not many.  This, I think is because it feeds on insects and worms and there were none on offer.

This is a magpie lark or peewee. It is a smaller relative of the piping shrike, or white-backed crow shrike, which appears as the emblem on the South Australian flag, but has never been officially declared the State bird,

It had a good explore of the balcony before taking off.

My two doves have settled into a daily routine. The smaller, (I'm assuming femaile) waits on the edge of the roof, calling for me to get up in the morning. More often than not she stays there while I throw down some seed and comes for some of it as soon as I go inside. She returns several times during the day. The larger (I'm assuming male) comes around midday for his share. 


My songbird embroidery was not quite dry this morning, so I set to work to make what I could of the bag without it. I got the back, sides and bottom of the bag machined, the handles and the lining. 







By early afternoon the blocked piece was dry, so I added it in and completed the job. I had to do a bit of adjustment to the lining.

Here it is in all it's splendour.










I realised as I blocked it that a red thread had run. I managed to prevent disaster, but have been slowly and carefully removing the offending thread - the over-dyed Mossipots that I was so pleased with. I haven't removed it all, but may do so.


It's a decent bag.



The news from Jennifer in hospital in Perth is pretty good. Her two tests for Covid19 infection were negative. Jennifer has her piece of get-out-of-jail paper! The tracheotomy is out. She can speak softly and croakily, but should not be doing too much of it. She stood up beside her bed several times and a physio is helping her sit in a chair. Tomorrow she moves to a respiratory ward where she will have a physio program. Doctors are saying 4 more weeks in hospital. Susan can visit her tomorrow - her first visitor since she went into hospital a month ago today. I don't have exact dates, but I think she has been in ICU for close on 24 days and with a respirator for probably 20. She has been the longest time of any patient in the Royal Perth Hospital Covid ICU. She's alive, standing, sitting - even speaking - and Covid-free.

I had bubbles tonight to celebrate, quietly, while enjoying a Live Stitch with Phillipa and Laura Turnbull and  3 of my fellow Stratford retreaters. Phillipa was in Cumbria, Laura in Spain, Genevieve in Brussels, Margaret in Brisbane and Tamara in California. There was lots to talk about. Those who are working are stretched, keeping families and fellow workers well and operational in addition to their own work. It's easy to make no time for your own sanity. No one expects this to be over soon. We all have at least one piece of stitching going and lots of stitching hopes and dreams.  There was more talking than stitching but I did tack papers to 30 I inch hexies. It lasted two hours instead of one - and worth every minute.

This is my tribe. Not all of it - but a vital part. To borrow a term from a local funeral company advertisement, it nourishes the soul.

This post is  a bit short on photographs. Two parcels were successfully delivered to me today. One contained two cooler-weather tops and the other a book. I had forgotten I had ordered it, second-hand from England. It's the Martha Grimes detective novel set in Stratford around the Black Swan Inn, where Melody and I had a drink on our second day in the town, before the retreat began. It's years since I read it The book isn't available electronically in Australia, because of historical publishing agreements and it's out of print, so I ordered a second-hand print copy

How appropriate that it should arrive today!

So much to be thankful for.