Post 268 Out of lockdown, with caution.

Our Crime Fiction Book Club met this morning at Norwood. Our usual coffee shop venue was not open. We hadn't been able to confirm opening because, of course, like all other cafes, it has been shut down since last Wednesday. Lots of places were not open. Cibo's, across the road was open and pretty full. Our convenor managed to secure a table for six, right at the back. 

We got through most of our discussion before a staff member gave us 10 more minutes so others could have the table.

Our books for today were Jane Harpers The Survivors and The House by Louise Candish.  I had not finished the latter but really liked The Survivors, which was pretty much in line with everyone else.

Because of the time limit in Cibo's, we finished before 11am, which is when retailers can open on Sundays. I joined a group of about 15 people waiting for Coles to open. Masks are recommended but not mandated. About half the Coles customers were wearing them.

As I left, around 11.30, the carpark was filling up. The streets were still relatively quiet both in Norwood (right) and on the Eastern side of the city centre (below).

After unpacking the shopping, I did a bit of stitching on the Oak Apple Tree in between a number of phone calls, the first from Jennifer, who is getting by with a little help from friends and family. We have a tentative plan for stitching. My friend Pat in Sydney is about to press the button on the very last final extra edits to her History of the Macquarie Dictionary. Margaret, my Guild friend with the broken humerus has been unable to see the physio during the lockdown and is still in pain. She has, however, been able to stitch using a seated frame. She's invited me to lunch on Wednesday. I missed a couple of calls from Susan B. our Sit'n Stitch host, because my phone was flat and on the charger after all those calls. Barbara caught up with me a bit later in the evening when the charge was effective.

While the phone was charging, there was a group of Adelaide Rosellas feeding in the Square. Even with the digital SLR I couldn't zoom in enough to get a decent photo, but you get the idea. They were grazing in the grass, obviously finding seeds of some sort.

It was a great sunset, first an apricot sky, lasting for at least ten minutes

then moving into the pink and grey-blue palette.

I've had a hard time choosing which ones to use in this post.

I'm very pleased with my Oak Apple Tree progress. I'm enjoying free-lancing on this one. I do have a photograph of an Oak Apple Tree as reference but with a pile of threads chosen around a palette based on the photograph I am improvising. Mind you, I have so far stayed on the familiar ground of tree and leaf. I'm leaving the Oak Apples to last!

I'm not sure how many guests I will have for dinner tomorrow in this changing world of exams, closures, working from home, working from office. Somewhere between 0 and 6 -  and it doesn't matter in the least.

I have a plan -

and any number of back-up variations. 

Almost anything is possible, and tonight I'm mindful of Julian of Norwich's mantra  All will be well, and all manner of things will be well.