Post 164 Friends, Family and Food.

A very quiet day indeed today. My cleaner came at 8.30am and managed to find a park on Carrington Street. Usually on Saturday mornings the street outside is nearly parked out by 7 am. I don't know why this is. Clearly something happens early on Saturdays that attracts a number of very similar white and silver cars. This morning these cars were parked along Pulteney St in the centre of the Square at 7am and our road was largely empty. I assume the 'partial road closure' sign and blocked section had put them off. However, by 8.30 there were only a couple of parking spaces left.  The downside of city living!
There was some activity on the building site, but I didn't investigate.


I settled in to stitching the third side of the box in my clean apartment and got quite absorbed in it, so much so, that by the time I emerged it was mid afternoon and I had not, as I had intended, visited Jennifer in Calvary Hospital.
I can see the hospital from my balcony (it has blocked my view of the city to the north so I can no longer see the fireworks on New Year's Eve!)

I rang Jennifer to see if it was too late for a visit, but she didn't answer. She had been asleep and rang back 20 minutes later. While we were talking on the phone other visitors arrived. She will be there until at least Tuesday - and maybe longer. She is moving later this evening to a cardiac ward.

I had a call earlier this week from my friend Lorraine, who was then in the Royal Adelaide Hospital with what doctors believe to be a cardiac problem. She was to move to a cardiac ward at Calvary yesterday, and then into a rehab ward. So I have two friends to visit - both in the cardiac ward!

Once again, it was a cold, overcast day in Adelaide with not much rain. My washing, however, hung limp and damp on the line.

This evening I had dinner with Katherine, Anthony and the kids at Grange Jetty Cafe.  Anthony had spent the day getting his first tattoo, a rather splendid humpback whale.


The cafe was better prepared and organised than last time I visited for lunch.







It was clearly signed, with plenty of hand sanitiser. I noticed the staff wiping the tables with antiseptic very thoroughly in between customers. It was much less crowded than when Jennifer and I were there for lunch.

I had seafood pizza, which was really good.









I'm pleased it was so well managed tonight. I love this cafe and would hate to have to give it up because I didn't feel their corona virus precautions were adequate.







Back at home I read a little more of The Bird Way and almost finished the third side of the box. I have two and a half sides of four-sided stitch to go.

The sides are all slightly different, but that's interesting to me.


Tomorrow is likely to be more knitting than embroidery.

Post 163 Birthday

Today is Katherine's birthday and we went out to lunch, as we have done for several years now. This time, with a couple of favourite restaurants still closed, we went to the River Cafe, at the weir on the Torrens.

It was the coldest Adelaide Day in quite some time reaching a maximum of 10C at 1pm. I do remember other days with a 10C maximum but, it is not common. The lowest maximum recorded was 8.3C in 1922. There were a few light showers, but it didn't amount to much.

We shared small entre plates of pulled pork balls, salt and pepper squid and flat bread. Katherine had lamb shanks as a main and I had stuffed garfish.

Oh, and there was the Panna Cotta desert.

It was a good place to go, - about 20 diners with at least 1.5 metres between tables, even though they were all along the window. It must hold 90-100.

This morning I read another chapter of The Bird Way, this time about mimicking. Again, much of the research was from Australia, particularly relating to Lyrebirds as well as Bowerbirds, Magpies, Blue Jays.  Birds from other continents, including Mockingbirds, also featured. Much mimicking is to deceive - to protect by creating sounds that cause predators to hesitate or give up. The remarkable thing I learned, however, was that some birds, particularly Lyrebirds, construct individual songs from a medley of imitated sounds.  That is, they compose. Their unique song and dance accompaniment is what they use to attract a partner.  There is also evidence that the sounds they mimic are passed from generation to generation, being evident in generations who have never heard the song of the originator bird. 

A few weeks ago I ordered the kit for the project on the cover of the current issue of Inspirations magazine. Delivery is delayed so the company has offered purchasers a free download pattern from their repertoire.

Today I downloaded this pattern. I have subscribed to Inspirations since about Issue 50,  so chose a pattern from an earlier issue. Not sure if or when I will get to it, but I liked this Jenny McWinney rooster.

 I think Jennifer will like it too. She called me today from Calvary Hospital. She is out of ICU and very pleased to be in a room with a pleasant view, a TV and her iPad. The balloon insertion was not successful because her trachea is curved rather than straight and the balloon will not inflate.  Doctors plan to try a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine on Monday night to see if that helps. Today's angiogram showed no arterial blockages, which means her heart itself has been damaged by the virus. They hope to control the effect of the damage by beta blockers. She will be in hospital until Tuesday. I hope to visit over the weekend.

I finished the Breton stitch border on the third box side. I've come to like this stitch, but now need to fill in the centre.

I also completed another 10 row pattern on the shawl. This time I photographed it with a tape measure to give an idea of size. There is a long way to go - but it is very relaxed knitting and the colours are lovely.

Post 162 : out and about with purpose

Today’s take from The Bird Way is that birds communicate quite complex information in their alarm calls, such as the specific nature of a predator  (for example, snake, raptor, dog)m whether it’s in the ground, in the sky or in the trees, and what stage of its hunt it is in ( for example, surveying, searching, swooping).

The calls also signal instructions- flee or gather ( to mob the predator). The calls can be combined, in specific order resembling a grammar. Experiments have established that calls can be taught and learned. Much of the significant research in this area has been done at the Australian National University and the Canberra Botanic Gardens. It’s giving me new ways of viewing the Noisy Miner and doves. 

While I spent time reading this morning, I had, for me in this time, a relatively busy day. I have swapped my Pilates day from Friday to Thursday. I have been going to Pilates on Friday for so long that I had a lot of trouble believing today was Thursday. I went to North Adelaide before Pilates to get the ingredients for my muesli and a bit more fruit. 

On the way from the shopping centre to Pilates at around 11.45am, I passed a very active booze bus on Memorial Drive. This seemed an odd thing at that time and place. A friend, however, pointed out that there’s now evidence that marihuana stays in the system for well over 12 hours and police are focusing on drug-affected driving. This is the first time I’ve seen testing at this time of the day on a weekday.

Pilates was good. Only four of us with Rosalie. It’s always good to have a change of instructor to give a new emphasis. 

After Pilates I drove to Port Adelaide to the Yarn Trader. The point of one needle in the set of bamboo needles I bought here in February had a split in the point, which caught on the yarn at every stitch. I wasn’t sure if the shop would do anything about it. They were, however, unhesitating in replacing it from another set, which they will send back to the supplier. Great service. 



On my way out I was very careful not to be beguiled by this shawl, which I think is truly, truly beautiful.

From there I want to the Anchor for a quick lunch, then to a mask-making friend’s place to deliver elastic. She is making masks for family in Melbourne and neighbours. 

Lee’s elastic is being put to good use!

Jennifer had her balloon insertion operation today. The news from the hospital is that there is little to report and she is sleeping. There should be more news tomorrow.

I progressed the third side of the counted thread box while finishing the last of the delicious organic free trade chocolate from my food box from last week. 

What more could I want? 

Post 161: Bobbins, birds and builders

Most of my morning, after an editing conversation with my brother, was spent filling 70 bobbins.  I now have a full quota of bobbins in my bobbin containers. I also have about 10 bobbins with small amounts of thread stored in the bobbin holder in my machine cabinet, along with a few spare empty bobbins.

When I had finished, I also tidied up my very messy machine cabinet ( well, the top surface anyway). It hasn't looked as tidy as this for a long time.












The building noise was well in the background for most of the day. A check mid-afternoon showed a number of very large holes, waiting, presumably for cement.



While checking out the building from my balcony, I checked on the blooms on the succulents. The flowers on this one are getting close to opening.



















My favourite, however, is this one that is showing its  open face.to the sun.

I began work on the third side of the Christine Bishop counted thread box before setting out to friends' place for dinner. By the time I've done four sides I'll be able to do it from memory. The trouble is I am unlikely to do it again to benefit!



I took my knitting with me to dinner (easy to manage and be sociable). I've now completed another 10 row pattern sequence.







I think I was right to choose a simple pattern that allows the colour of the wool to dominate.



There was a full moon riding high over the city as I drove home.  It is very hard to photograph the moon - but you get some interesting effects.

I've been reading Jennifer Ackerman's The Bird Way  and finding it fascinating. Today's revelation was that, while it has long been assumed that it is the male songbird that sings, female song occurs in two thirds of 1147 songbird species surveyed in 2014, and is equally complex and strong. This is particularly so in Australia from where all songbirds are now believed to originate. It appears that  female northern hemisphere songbirds lost their song in the process of evolution. It is believed that this was because, as breeding migrants, they do not need to establish and maintain territory in breeding seasons as residents do. Birds that remained in the Southern hemisphere retained singing females.

More tomorrow.

Post 160

It was a sunny day in Adelaide, if, for Adelaide, cold.  A maximum of 14C for Adelaide is a cold day. I stayed inside, mostly embroidering and reading.

This book arrived in the mail. It is a mixture of identification of references to embroidery and textiles in medieval, or pre-medieval texts such as the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, Piers Plowman and Beowulf. To this she adds stanzas by Kipling, Sherrington, Lowell and Allingham. The bulk of the book is an exploration, in thread, of flora and fauna mentioned in literature and often embroidered.  It is illustrated with Helen Stevens’ own illustrations and embroidery suggestions. I’d have liked a bit more exploration of the literary context of embroidery, but there are some very useful embroidery hints, such as the ears of wheat in page 77.

Most of my day was spent on the counted bag. I managed to finish the second side of the bag. It is, I think, coming on well. The spacing in the middle motif is different on the two sides. Neither is the recommended one. The next one will be exactly correct, but I think the last one will be a repeat of today’s, which is so far my favourite .

I also conducted a bit of an experiment with a mask to see it I could make one for a friend who is, in fact, exempt from the need to wear on.  I  might discuss it further once my friend has tried it.

In order to stitch the mask I had to replenish my bobbins. I used up everyone I had making masks over the last week or so. There was nothing for it but to fill myself a supply. I managed to fill 11 bobbins with white thread before the call of the Repair Shop got too strong. 

No knitting today, just a focus on the squares. The next couple of days are forecast to be colder than today and to rain. No complaints about that. Sounds like embroidery weather.

Post 159 Mostly cooking - and eating

No bird visitors this morning with the building work beginning at 7.00 am. There was a bit of noise, but, on the whole, sufficiently background to not be disruptive. I haven’t been into the square to check out how they are progressing, but the sound seems to be moving further away. 

The first task of the day was to post the masks to my brother. That done, I could head to the greengrocer and supermarket,

My meal plan for tonight was chicken Maryland, eggplant parmagiana, potoatoes with bacon and broccolini (yes, Ive done it before - I have a very limited repertoire of meals!)l  I had most of the ingredients except the chicken Maryland’s which I wanted to buy fresh. I ended up buying much more than that especially since my favourite ice creams were on special! 

Driving home I realised that the deciduous street trees are finally fully bare. I also noticed for the first time that there are young trees  beginning to burst into blossom along  the restructured Frome Rd bikeway. I’m not sure what they are but they are soon going to be a picture of white blossom.














I managed to prepare,the eggplant without burning it. I haven’t quite got the hang of this oven yet. While everything was cooked, the potato and the chicken could have done with longer to further brown. An hour and a half should have been plenty of time but perhaps so much in the oven requires even longer.

One of the girls’ primary school teachers has a compromised immune system and had health advice that  she must give up work if and when the state have six confirmed COVID cases. That happened over the weekend so she will no longer be teaching. The girls are understandably upset. These are the seemingly small personal impacts of this pandemic that add up to long standing disruption.  

I progressed my knitting a little. The colours in this wool are fabulous.




The delicious chocolate from my Friday goody basket helped a lot.











I also progressed the second side of the counted bag. I’m almost up to the Breton stitch.

Tomorrow.

Post 158 Sit’nStitch

A nice quiet beginning to the day. I was due to pick Jennifer up at 12.30 to go to a friend’s place to Sit’n Stitch.

Before I left I managed to finish stitching the face masks to send to my brother in Sydney tomorrow. I also cut and threaded the elastics so I could stitch the ends together in the afternoon. This was while watching (well, more listening to) the Covid news bulletins from Victoria, NSW and Queensland. Melbourne is going into Stage 4 lockdown tonight, with a curfew.  NSW is tightening restrictions, including recommending masks be worn while shopping. Good thing I can mail the masks to Sydney tomorrow.  South Australia currently has 6 cases, all from returning residents or travellers. That’s expected to rise with passengers from a flight from India now in isolation in hotels.

We had another really pleasant afternoon - Sue made a tuna moray and bought a fresh pizza. Jennifer is stitching one of the panels she took on her ill-fated cruise,  Sue is knitting a shawl and I worked on the counted bag after I stitched the elastics.  Jennifer’s panel has progressed somewhat.  This photo is the one I used in Post 40, while Jennifer was in a Perth hotel waiting for her first Covid test results! The main bowl section is now finished and we discussed how to stitch the top rim and base to get a rounded effect. I will try to show the progress over the next couple of weeks.

Jennifer is happy with her owl bag. I have a similar bag with an elephant motif, which I offered to work for Jennifer’s partner. She has accepted my offer, so I’m trying to decide whether it would be better to do the colouring-in side first this time, then embroider the other side.

This is my progress on the counted bag. It’s slow but satisfying. 

There  is no progress on the knitting which I put aside in favour of the linen.

Tomorrow will be mostly cooking and shopping for family dinner so there may not be much stitching.