Post 94 Return of the Doves and the Document

Early this morning Myrtle visited to pick up the last of yesterday's seed mixture - the one gifted from the chickens.


















She was back a little later with Turtle, exploring..



When I put out today's ration they were back again,  this time in a kind of feeding dance with social distancing.


The daily chicken feed ration is all gone, and the small pile of parrot seed left from earlier in the week remains untouched.

It is good to have them back.

The Crimson Rosellas put in an appearance in the nearby trees, as did a group of rainbow lorikeets. I need to get the new battery for my SLR. The zoom needed is too much for my phone.

Throughout the day my brother and I have shared 3 more drafts of the document I sent last night, with progressive improvements.  It's easy to get absorbed in the task and not notice the passage of time, especially on a grey, overcast, showery day.

It was 6 pm before the penultimate draft went off and  I got to stitch - but I put in close to four hours of stitching and made good progress. I still have the legs, feet, beak and some outline to do as well as some background fill, but it’s come a long way.

And there are, if, as Hank Williams used to say, the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don’t rise,  more days.

Tomorrow I might get to reply to a few emails and pay a couple of bills.

Not to mention those last 6 hexies.

Post 93 Bookended by birds

The noisy miner was back this morning, surveying the scene and, yes, making a lot of noise. It made no attempt to explore the balcony - just made its presence felt with a lot of noise.

A little before this I had a message from Veronica to say "some wonderul person left seeds on your car" and the photo of my car. It turns out they placed it there yesterday, but because I didn't leave the apartment, I didn't see it.

The dove's now have a supply of chicken grain.

They were slow to take it up. I scattered some immediately. Turtle had come earlier and picked over the remaining parrot food. I didn't see any bird take the feed but two thirds of it had gone at the end of the day. I did have a full washing line with several things large and flapping. The rosellas were also around - and the other birds are very wary of them. There were at least three of them. I tried to get photos but I still don't have a battery for my SLR and you need a really good zoom to capture them.


In these photos the splashes of red are the giveaway

The rosella is even more elusive in the second set of photos.It's a bit Where's Wally?

After the excitement of photographing an Adelaide Rosella (well, nearly) I settled down to finish my writing task. I got the ending worked out and finished. Then came the long task of checking references, proof reading and adjusting. I took a break while my laptop recharged and went to the North Adelaide Village to get a few supplies.

Back home I  corrected a print copy - I always need to correct on paper to pick up errors I wouldn't have otherwise found.

I bought a Cornish pasty in North Adelaide for lunch. Once home, I heated it, along with some chips and sat on the front balcony while it heated. It was one of those golden afternoons.











I hope Jennifer can see all the begonias. The one I grew from the cutting is doing well.






I came in, however, and, around 9 pm, finished my editing task and sent the document off to my brother. Yay!





I didn't get much done on the Nicola piece, but it was something.

Tomorrow I hope to see the doves.

Right now I'm falling asleep and my laptop is about to do the same. I will post before either happen, without further proofreading!

Post 92

Today is the sixth anniversary of Jim's death. The loss is ever present, although less raw than it was. I am at last able to look at photos and papers. Talking about him comes easier and he remains part of this phase of my life. I'm grateful to family and friends who grieve with me,  share the loss and support my journey.  We all miss him.


The doves haven't changed their mind about the seed. Turtle appeared and ate a couple of dozen seeds this morning but there are still some left. Katherine has offered me more chicken pellets so we shall see if it's the seed or a boycott.

The buds on the cactus have not opened yet, but there are more of them and it looks splendid as the buds multiply on the stem.


I wrote for most of the day again. When I add a couple of final paragraphs  I will have a penultimate draft.Another day should give me a final draft.


I took this photo this afternoon wishing it could capture something of the sound of the birds - screeching  and calling as they returned to roost, mostly, it would seem, in that large tree. They do a lot of wheeling as well, but I am not  fast enough.

I bought some French cutlets when I shopped on Tuesday. I cooked them in my lazy way - in the oven with a sliced potato, sprouts and, at the last mnute, broccolini.



I had too much to think about to make a great deal of progress on Nicola's bird - but I am pleased with what I did manage.

Jennifer is home, slept well in her own bed and is trying to sort out the embroidery she had taken on her cruise. I don't think it will take her long. She will, however, be fatigued.

In a smaller piece of good news, Phillipa Turnbull has made me the reverse version of the Muncaster Orange to fit on my chair. I made a few purchases as well, to fill other gaps. It looks as if the chair might be my next project!

Post 91 writing all day long

It's a pretty sparse post tonight. I have spent most of the day writing - about six hours- and reading/researching - about 3 hours. I took a break to check my letterbox, eat some crackers and cheese for lunch around 2pm, then returned to the task. I was in the swing of it. I took another brief break when I realised the sun was setting and I hadn't taken a single photo all day. A screen shot from my computer doesn't quite fit the bill!

Myrtle had appeared early this morning and spent 10 minutes or so devouring some of the seed still there from yesterday. I was too absorbed in writing to check throughout the day, but as the sun went down most of the seed was still there. My conclusion is that the doves do not like the new seed.

I had a choice in the supermarket of seed for parrots or seed for budgerigars. I chose parrots. The mix has less variety than the chicken grains I had fed them until two days ago. I think I will need to rectify if I wish to keep the doves coming.
Cupboard love!


The other task today was to send out a bulletin to the World Embroidery Study Group. One member had sent me an extract from a book and I had a article from Piecework magazine on Bagchi Dowry bags from the Sindh Provence in Pakistan. Some readers may be interested. At the end of the article are links to other articles, including one on the Embroidery by Medieval Anchoresses and Nuns, which I also enjoyed.


I also had a phone call from my Pilates Studio. Sessions are beginning the week after next. I'm ready to participate.  Groups will be no more than 4 - which is normal.


I feel satisfied with my writing today. I need a couple of hours to finish a first draft and probably another day to edit, check and rewrite. The end, however, is in sight.

I spent the evening on Nicola's bird, which is a lot of fun. I'm using a variety of silks and a little metallic thread.

I think it is going to look right at home on that Ink and Spindle bottlebrush linen.

Post 90: a bit of shopping

Great cloud formation this morning.














My first visitor was the adolescent dove, who came to explore the balcony before I had broadcast any seed. It took a few minutes before Myrtle appeared to shoo him away. I discussed this behaviour with my brother. We agreed this appears to be a parental strategy to force young to fend for themselves.They are not allowed to continue following their parents around. They will be forced to find their own territory.





I put out the new seed, which I have placed in a new, larger container. It was not as easy to manage as the previous ccontainer. I ended up distributing more than usual. Myrtle came back and had a decent feed before leaving. None of the doves came back during the day, which is unusual. Maybe there is some drama in doveland.



But for Covid, there would have been a Certificate Course workshop last Saturday, taken by Margaret Adams on Kogin embroidery from Japan. I made a Kogin cushion in 2011 which is still in use. I realised today it needed to be washed, so did so. It's now back on the chair. I like it a lot, and really enjoyed making it. I'd like to do more.

I needed milk, so took myself off to Unley Village, where I could also dispose of the bag of soft plastic I've collected over the last three or four weeks. Even though it was a pretty dull day, the parklands provide a pleasant lift. The traffic was fairly light although the Village car park was about 90% full.

Coles was not crowded and well stocked. I even got a dispenser of hand sanitiser!

I got more reading done for my writing task, but no actual writing.  It will happen.

As at the beginning of the day, the sunset had some interesting cloud patterns, along with an interest colour palette.













I got another 6 hexies stitched together. Only six more to go.


There's also a little progress on Nicola's bird.


Tomorrow it has to be reading and writing all the way!

Post 89 Mostly Hexies.

Another drama in the bird story this morning. Yesterday I used the last of the seeds my daughter had given me on 16 April. These came from her chicken feed. I had purchased a box of bird seed on my last grocery shop and this was what I broadcast this morning. Before long, three doves appeared, Myrtle, Turtle and an adolescent. I knew it was an adolescent because its collar was a mottled browny-grey, not spotted.

How nice, I thought, they've brought along their family.

Myrtle and Turtle got stuck into the seed, while the adolescent watched, then, getting the idea, dropped down to join them.

That's when the action happened. Very quickly. Myrtle and Turtle drove the adolescent away. He/she flew to the trees, then back to the roof above my balcony. Turtle flew up to drive it off. The adolescent swooped over the balcony, but was no match for the adult birds, who returned to companionably working their way through all the seed.  It looks as if the new mix is OK. And sharing beyond your partner does not seem to be dove etiquette.

I buckled down to a couple of three hour writing sessions.My computer battery still dies every 3 hours. Rather than sit at a table where I can reach a power point I take a break and recharge. I made good progress and can now see the shape of it, but there's a way to go, and I might need to give in and sit at a table before too long.

While my laptop was recharging I cut out the fabric squares I needed for the last 12 hexies.














I cut some from the puff sleeve of a dress I made for myself somewhere between 1967 and 1975. I really liked the dress. This is the last of it. There's still a little left.



This evening I managed to tack the papers into all the squares. It helps to have an episode of Midsomer Murders to watch. All I have to do now is stitch them together and I will be ready to applique 75 hexie flowers on to my quilt.






I also progressed a little bit more of my Nicola Jarvis bird.













Multi-tasking makes for a pretty messy workspace (aka the sofa) but it's well worth it. And in any case, the coffee table is taken up with the books and papers for my writing, so what's a girl to do?

Post 88: Visits

The first thing I saw this morning when I opened the blind was this Black-faced cuckoo shrike. It flew to the flowering aloe and attempted to get nectar from it.  I wasn't fast enough to get a photo. There was another cuckoo shrike hovering nearby and they took off into the trees.

Before too long, Myrtle was there pecking away at the seed I had cast. It was the very last of the seed Katherine had given me when the doves first appeared while I was in self-isolation.  As she pecked, the pair of cuckoo shrikes reappeared and either enticed or intimidated her into flying away. They flew after her, without attempting to feed on the seed. She came back later for the seed.



The trees are looking very elegant as the red tips multiply.

I spent an hour or so making  Pastitsio Makaronia me Feta with Phyllo , or pasta pie as my grandchildren prefer to call it. This was to be the next meal at my place on Monday after my trip to England, but isolation and distancing took over. This is Veronica's favourite meal at my place, so I promised to make one and drop it in. Today I went to their place for afternoon coffee, so wanted to keep my promise. 

I forgot to take a photos. It was very good to see them all and hear what they have been doing. We have agreed to resume Monday dinner at my place for children only on 1 June. I can manage an appropriately distanced meal for 5 but not 7. If we eat early, I can package enough for their parents to take home for their dinner when they pick up the kids.


Back at home I had some cooked pasta left over from last night, so added a bottle of passata, sprinkled it with cheese and baked it. It was surprisingly good - and there is plenty for tomorrow as well.

I managed a couple of hours on my research/writing task this morning. It's still at an early stage, but is progressing.




I  finished the 7 remaining hexies while socialising and watching Julia Zamiro profiling Karl Kruszelnicki. 

This gives me 63. I calculate I need 12 more to finish the job. I will need to cut more fabric squares to achieve this.


Rather than start cutting this evening, I decided to put the first stitches into my first Nicola Jarvis bird. I used silk thread for the red and orange head, a red metallic in the circle around the eye, and a blue polyester thread. The beak is the wrong shape for a rosella, but I'm not going to get too literal. I haven't noticed any birds with feathers in the pattern of flowers.


Now, of course, I have projects going on everywhere.

Nothing like having choice.