Post 267 Thanks to friends and family

I am very pleased with these pots of marigolds from Sids for Kids - their 2020 replacement fundraiser for Red Nose Day, which wasn't going to work in this Covid year.

The two plants are full of buds and is a testament to new life.

Myrtle doesn't seem to get the idea of the small dish of seed. It has become a platform on which to stand and access the seed that has been transferred to the tiles. She is particularly keen on retrieving the seeds that go right underneath the water dish.

I spent much of today talking to or emailing family and friends who knew Susan Monks or who wanted to express their condolences or check in with me. My gratitude to all who contacted me today. It really helps.

Jennifer is being supported by Susan's nephew and niece. They can't make formal announcements until they have clearance from the Coroner, which will take at least 3 days. 

This morning my Guild friend Margaret Adams sent me this photo of her completed Counted Sashiko Perle Keep from our workshops over the last couple of weekends. I really love it. I love the clean look, partly achieved by the colour of the thread and linen and partly by the particular pattern repetition. And the button really works. One of the things Carol Mullan, who taught the class, prizes is the variety of student work. No two are the same. This is different to mine in every way. It's beautiful.

My neighbours walked to the Market today where a few food stalls were able to open. It was hot - 37C- but they were not deterred. On the way back Di gathered some fallen blossom from the Jacaranda trees and a Bougainvillea on Carrington St. and arranged them in this beautiful bowl. I was doubly delighted because I have noticed that Bougainvillea in that stretch of Carrington St, looking  so beautiful against the purple of the Jacaranda, while driving, but haven't been able to stop to take a photo. 

How perfect is that!

I worked on the Oak Apple Tree in between my phone calls and emails. I should have been reading the second of two  books for my book club meeting tomorrow morning but other things were more important and more comforting.  I'm pleased with the progress. I am working from a photograph I found, since I don't think I've ever seen an Oak Apple Tree. Tree trunks are among my favourite things to embroider and I enjoy acorns as well. I haven't, however, ever embroidered an oak apple and expect that to be a challenge.

When I took this photo tonight around 8pm there was no traffic on the road and no pedestrians that I could see. There was news coverage of people at the beach or out exercising in parks. It all seemed orderly and respectful of restrictions. The lockdown was lifted five minutes ago and all remains quiet here in Hurtle Square.

We had 17 000 Covid tests yesterday and one new case, linked to the cluster. Authorities believe there will be more but they know the connections. I will be interested to see what it's like at Norwood tomorrow. 

Thanks again to my friends and family for your concern and contact today. 

Post 266 A strange and sad day

There was a line of cloud over the Hills this morning. Perhaps an omen.

It has been an extraordinary day on many fronts. 

I had a wonderful 2 hour phone conversation with my friend Deirdre in Lismore, NSW. We have been friends since high school and remain on the same wavelength. There was a lot to catch up on and the time flew by. Somehow we get to the things that really matter.

By the time I got off the phone, South Australia's Premier had announced the end of our lockdown from midnight Saturday. The exercise and dog-walking restrictions have been lifted immediately. There were three more positive cases today and still more expected. What has changed is the admission by one of the original contacts, that he lied to contact tracers. Rather than buying a pizza from the transmission hub, he had in fact been working there as a chef. The contract tracing has been highly effective and swift, but the level of contagion from that hub was a major factor in the lockdown. While this gives contact tracers another whole set of data to collect, it is no longer the level of contagion feared.

This has, of course, caused both rejoicing and recrimination. From midnight on Saturday we go back to our previous level of restriction - 4 square metres of space in restaurants, 100 at religious gatherings, 10 in homes, etc etc. My Sunday morning book club is back on. 

I'm really grateful that our State government has been open and upfront about this. It is terrible that businesses and workers have lost money and been restricted, but good it has been curtailed in the light of this information. It's also good that our contact tracing has been so professional and thorough and based on the best available information. Presumably the lie was related to how legal the employment arrangements might have been - and that needs to be addressed in a number of ways. 

I haven't, to date, discussed Covid arrangements and the debates around them in this blog. This extraordinary development  dominated today to such an extent I couldn't ignore it.

Within, it seemed, minutes of the announcement of the lifting of the outdoor exercise ban, there were people walking and riding in the parks, beaches and streets - but keeping distance and mostly wearing masks. The traffic, however was very quiet for a Friday night.

While following the developments throughout the day I finished the Stag. I'm pleased with this piece. I tried it where it is to go on the chair, along with the Rabbits piece of the same size.

I have started on the Oak Apple Tree which is to go between these two pieces. Once this is done, and these pieces attached, I am only left with the two pieces ordered for the back of the chair- and any gap filling required.

This was where this post was going to end. There was, however, further unexpected, un-ignorable development. 

Jennifer's partner, Susan Monks, died unexpectedly this evening. She had been admitted to hospital earlier this afternoon and had a fatal heart attack tonight. Jennifer was with her. She is, understandably, distraught.  Susan was an extraordinarily intelligent and capable woman and educator. 

It has been the worst possible year for Jennifer. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Post 265 Day 1 of the six-day lockdown: COVID Stag

This is where I ended up at the end of today - the first of the 6 complete lockdown days in South Australia. The stag colours are a little more russet than they appear here.

It's been very relaxing and pleasurable to have the time to just stitch.  This is probably going to be known as the Covid Stag when I add it to my chair!

There was, of course, no work on the building site and not much movement in the Square. A few people walked through, presumably essential workers. Traffic was lighter than usual. I watched a few news bulletins. There were no new Covid cases in the State today. There is commentary (mostly from interstate) about the harshness of the SA lockdown, when, on the first day, after 12,000 tests, there are no cases. The Chief Medical Officer argues that there are still 17 probable cases and we need to stay ahead on the contact tracing. Most South Australians seem to trust her. 

I do.  

I couldn't resist photographing the red begonia again when the sun filtered through its leaves late this afternoon. It did just reach 36C   this afternoon but seemed to cool down a little before sunset.

I have also been watching the growth of this Euphorbia Milii. I bought it as a struggling reject at a plant sale. It was about 50cm tall but drooping, with few leaves. It's looking very healthy and there are lots of new shoots at the crown. I'm wondering if it is about to flower.

This morning I spent a couple of hours finishing Dead Men's Hearts by Aaron Elkins, the first of his I have read. It had a bit going for it - lots of archeology and anthropology detail, used, I thought, very effectively. The ending drama was a bit unlikely and unnecessary, but would look good on film or video. 

I had a couple of visits from my dove friends. The sunflower is absolutely at its best. The one flower at the moment is benefitting from no competition.

The other big news story today, apart from SA's lockdown, has been the report of the Enquiry into Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan. It is a shocking and shameful story. The only good thing is that the enquiry was held, the Defence Force has accepted responsibility, issued apologies and initiated legal processes.

Tomorrow is a little cooler, but hotter on Saturday. I suspect I might choose to finish the stag before I pick up the quilt to add hexies!

Post 264 Lockdown

Before the bombshell of a 6 day lock-down  within 12 hours hit around lunchtime, I was relaxed and thinking about desk covers, the first thing those of us who were in primary school in NSW in the 1950s made in our sewing classes. They were rectangles of headcloth, with embroidered hems and embroidered motifs. No one I know of ever covered a desk with one. 

Recently I have thought about those desk-covers each time I've been at the Guild in a class or session that includes lunch. With the kitchen closed under our Covid Safe Plan, we eat at our work stations, moving our embroidery away. Each time I wish I had that desk cover to spread out before opening my lunch box.

Today I dug out a pair of Japanese Sashiko napkins I embroidered a couple of years ago when friends bought them back from Japan for me.  I reckon they fit the bill, so I'll be making them part of my Guild kit.

I was watching a crane loading timber beams from a crane on the building site next door, when I decided I'd better check in on the midday news bulletin. I tuned in just as Professor Nicola Spurrier, our Chief Health Officer, was explaining the 6 day lockdown announced by the SA Government from midnight tonight. All schools,  universities, eateries (including take-away), hotels, gyms, pools closed. One person from each household can leave once a day for essential food  or pharmacy shopping. No exercise outside the home. Masks to be warn outside the home. 

My first thought was that I did not have enough tomatoes for my lunches for six days. I had made a shopping list this morning, which included ingredients for next Monday's family dinner. I figured I should go to my favourite tomato shop straight away, before the rush started, and then call at the butcher. 

It appears everyone in Adelaide had a similar thought.

On the way to the car I realised there would be no Monday family dinner!

At the North Adelaide Village, a shopping complex where I have never seen more than 50 people, the queue to get into the supermarket snaked around the atrium. I estimated about 40 people in the queue, waiting for others to come out of the supermarket so they could get in. 

 Around the corner, in the greengrocer, there were two queues, one to get into the shop and one to pay. The line around the back wall is the paying queue. It went around two walls and out into the atrium - again, up to 40 people while I was in it. The shop has 4 checkouts, each with a packer as well as a cashier. The wait wasn't too bad. It was, however, astounding to see. Adelaide doesn't have queues. Four shop assistants were working constantly to replenish the stock.                                                  People were focused, but cheerful. There was a lot of smiling and sympathy for the young woman who started work there today in her first job. A day she won't forget.

I had thought I might buy a couple of crumbed French cutlets from the butcher but although, when I had paid at the greengrocer,  the queue did not extend outside the butcher's shop door, the meat display was severely depleted and I didn't bother. These food shops are essential services under the lockdown and will be open throughout the six days. I can, if necessary, exercise my once a day food excursion option if desperate. 

By contrast to the shopping centre, the streets were relatively deserted on the way home.  The photo on the left is Frome Rd near Brougham Place and Lefevre Terrace at North Adelaide on the right, both usually much busier.

Since arriving home I've had a few calls and messages checking I'm OK, which I certainly am. These are the toughest restrictions so far in the country. It seems contact tracing data indicates this particular strain of the virus is replicating itself every 3 days. Those contracting it are infectious within 24 hours. Contact tracers are now tracing the 5th generation from the initial infection (which arrived in Adelaide from the UK). The speed of transmission without symptoms is what has epidemiologists worried.  As Nicola Spurrier has said, this is our one chance of a relatively normal Christmas. So hard and early it is.

I posted another Baby Boomer Teacher Conversation today. I  also ordered two more printed linens from The Crewel Work Company after measuring the space left on my chair and calculating what I will need after I add the Aesop Frame.  I've also set up the small stag in a hoop to give me a break from hexies. This one is for the skirt at the front of the chair.

Jennifer has sent a photo of her finished Mr Twizzle, which is another part of a community fundraiser. She is so good at creating at these fabulous figures.

By 11pm I had found the wools I need for the stag and made a start. Plenty of time tomorrow - and more interesting than attaching the hexies to my quilt!

From Adelaide: Stay Safe!

Post 263 Chores and, as we now say, an abundance of caution..

 

It's been a bit of a trying day. I had several things to do, and several to sort out. Our Covid resurgence has been so sudden that many people appear to be in shock. There is clear information about places visited by the 20 who have tested positive or by their contacts. 8000 are in isolation. Nevertheless a pall of uncertainty hangs about. It was probably a good thing I had a substantial list of things to do. None of them were photo opportunities. Since this blog is a journal of this Covid year, I feel it important to record some of today's tedious detail. The photos are today's. They don't necessarily illustrate the text.

I am trying the seed for the doves in a little dish near the water and sunflower, just to see if it works. As you can see, the doves do not keep food on the plate.

It does, however, make photography a bit easier. 

I had an audiology appointment in the morning and an appointment with my tax accountant in the afternoon. I also had a parcel to pick up from the post office. I could have walked to the audiologist but decided to drive via the post office to secure the parcel. 

Consequently I was a bit early to the audiologist and sat in the car a few minutes. It’s mostly a residential street, with numerous Adelaide stone bungalows and pleasant gardens, although many, including this one, now back on to apartment blocks. It’s very soothing to watch, from a distance, someone pottering gently in her garden.

Inside the audiology practice, COVID restrictions were back to prime position. I had to sanitise my hands, fill out a form about symptoms and wear a mask. I’m not complaining. We are all adjusting to going from no community transmission since April, to a cluster of. 20 cases and 14 more suspected. 

Audiology tests while wearing a mask proved possible but challenging. The earpieces and headphones transmitting the sounds I needed to identify crackled against the mask unless I was perfectly still and the cords of the mask around my ears competed with the hearing aid tubes, occasionally pushing them out. Nevertheless we completed the tests and adjusted the hearing aids. My hearing has barely changed and my aids are still working effectively. I caught up with technology developments but don’t need to change.

From there I went home and made a couple of phone calls. My payment for the Aesop Frame has not gone through and I tried calling the bank. I got a recorded message to say many staff were working from home because of the COVID changes and delays are being experienced. Gave up on that. I also rang our Strata management company because I couldn’t find an account. It took several tries before I got to someone. When I got to someone who could help me, there was a knock on his door and he had to go, saying he’d get back to me. He didn't. Much later this afternoon, fortunately, I found the missing account in my email bin. The company is usually efficient. I think, like many, they are struggling to adjust overnight to imposed limits and staff working from home.

Other places have got used to quick transitions. We will too.

My tax accountant phoned to check I was ok to come in the changed Covid conditions. He was free so I went early. He is so relaxed and efficient. There was a time when I was proficient at doing my own tax, but not any more. I know what information is needed and for the most part am fine to gather it. I have, however, long lost the nuanced understanding now required. I knew I would have significant tax to pay this year. It is slightly less than I had set aside. Within 45 minutes my tax return was done, printed, signed, lodged and I had two Australian Tax Office accounts in my hand. 

I then went on to the Unley shopping centre, deposited my soft plastic recycling, posted a parcel and visited the bank to try to sort out why the Aesop transfer hasn’t gone through. This refers back to the TransferWise notification I attempted last Friday night when the bank froze the payment, suspecting fraud. Even though I spoke to the Fraud Branch on the phone and they removed the block on my cards, they are still blocking the transfer. 

They have now unblocked it but I need to start over again. There is, they say, an increase in fraudulent transactions at the moment.   

This evening I have paid using a debit card. It costs me more but reduces my stress. 

I went to the supermarket before coming home, to get a bit of fruit and replenish the supply of my favourite ice creams. All was calm and well distance, but I noticed the toilet paper and wipes shelves were depleted. 

Insane.

The much delayed hard copy Piecework magazine arrived today. I have had the electronic version for a while and shared the Inuit string figures with the WES Group. The article on boiled wool caps from North Africa looks tempting. I'll give the crocheted gloves a miss. 

Nicola’s pattern book also arrived.  Very, very beautiful and inspiring.

I’m now, after eating and stitching on one more hexie, contented that I’ve got so much  stuff sorted today. I can cope with the cancellation of  Pilates on Thursday and Sit’n Stitch on Friday this week, and with the temperature rising again to 34C tomorrow and 36C on Thursday. 

I’ve paid two of the four accounts generated today. I'll feel even better when I’ve paid the other two and have an embroidery needle in my hand.

Post 262 Cooking and hexies

A much cooler, more pleasant day in Adelaide today, down to 20C. I went to Frewville Foodland around 10am to get potatoes, a large leg of lamb and some bakery items. I also bought a bunch of multi-coloured carrots. Back at home I  par-boiled the potatoes and got it all ready to roast later this afternoon. It all worked well - except that I forgot to take the carrots out of the oven. Katherine arrived late from work and Anthony discovered the carrots when he put the meat back in the oven to keep warm until her arrival. She ate a lot of carrots!

 

There was another concrete pour next door today. There now seems to be a ground floor.

At the front of the apartment the jacarandas planted by the Council two years ago, to replace other trees assessed by the arborist as past their use-by date. are growing at varied paces. The ones in the park were smaller when planted (tree No 1). Tree No. 2, which is in front of the building site, is small, but compact and full of growth. Tree 3, which is directly in front of me, is taller, blooming and a bit leggy. 

Looking the other way, however, is less promising. Tree 3 appears here again. Across the road, Trees 5 and 6 are small but alive and blooming. Again, these trees were small when planted. Tree 4, however, appears to be dead. On the whole, the Adelaide City Council is good with trees. I hope they replace that tree soon - and with a large one. It's going to be fabulous at this time of year out there when these trees are more mature. 

While out on the front balcony I decided to separate this lemon-scented pelargonium from the pot of succulent that it is in. It looks good together, but I doubt the competition for nutrients is good for neither plant.The pelagonium root proved to be very long. I hope I haven't done too much damage moving it. I cut back some of the leaves and replanted it in its own 6" pot.

The topic of discussion this afternoon and evening is our Covid hotspot. There are a few questions about the detail of the restrictions. Since the weekend, we have 17 locally acquired cases - linked to a worker in a quarantine hotel, 15 part of one extended family. Health authorities appear to be on to it. Three schools are closed for cleaning and several hundred people required to self-isolate. 

We have been free of the virus since April. In recent weeks, at the Prime Minister's urging, State governments, our own included, responded to the Prime Minister's appeal to States to take more Australians returning from overseas. We have increased our contribution to 450. By last Friday, 17 of these had tested positive for Covid 19. It now seems a cleaner has picked up the disease in one of the hotels and it is now in the community. Other States have closed their borders to SA. Let's hope the quick response from government suppresses its spread.

My stitching time today went into hexies, in an attempt to get the large quilt off the lounge room floor. I got 6 appliqued on. It's a slow process, removing the tacking and papers, then stitching around the edges.

It's pretty tame work after the excitement of Counted Sashiko, but a job that needs doing. 

Post 261 Sounted Sashiko , heat and Alan Garner.

 It reached 38.1C today in Adelaide - just as we were leaving the Guild after the Counted Sashiko class. The sunflower responded well, but will need a big drink tomorrow morning.

I was pretty well organised this morning. I found the interfacing, wadding and cotton I needed for the class and made my thermos of coffee. 

Before I went to bed last night I had worked out that my magnetic needle keep was exactly the diameter of the end required for the project. Rather than cardboard to stiffen the ends, I used the plastic from a milk bottle and traced them out.

My first job at the class was to do the row of double back stitch all around. It took me well over an hour. I realised I had used the stitch before and it does make a good sharp edge. 

By the end of the class, I had the lining in and the ends ready to stitch together.

It was another good class. Carol worked hard, visiting each student individually to explain things and check on work. Carol gets excited to see the variety of projects. Everyone's is really different. Many are working on samplers, but they are all very different. It is, in my view, a testimony to how good a teacher Carol is. She really teaches to individuals.

There is also a really good atmosphere in the class - cooperation and sharing - even laughter!

At home after the class I stitched the lining to the main piece and the end circles together. Again, it took a while, stitching between each of the back stitches.

.

I am pleased with the result. I could easily not have worked out. The red fabric could have been a disaster.  I even think it will be useful for taking perle cottons to classes at the Guild - a not infrequent requirement.

Oddly, working the Counted Sashiko led me to think about Alan Garner's The Owl Service. My brother planted the seed several months ago when I was embroidering the Owl bag. He commented  "She wants to be flowers, but you make her owls'. I hadn't thought of that for decades. For those who have not read the book, it takes the Mabinogion story of Blodeuwedd, a woman made from flowers, and creates a modern parallel. Garner was inspired by a plate he found, designed by  Christopher Dresser (1834-1903), part of Dresser's Owl Dinner Service..

This example of the plate is held in the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough. 

Counted Sashiko led me back to this by  the way the design shifts dramatically when you add, for example, a diagonal row, or remove a component of the geometric design. It alters what we see quite dramatically, and produces an entirely different pattern.

It led me to reflect that we  choose how we see things, how we represent things and what we focus on. In Counted Sashiko this results in a wide range of patterns on both the front and back of the fabric, some quite floral, some flowing, some rigidly geometric.We choose.

Garner's full comment in The Owl Service  is 

"She wants to be flowers and you make her owls. 

You must not complain, then, if she goes hunting."

This is a metaphor for many things in our society. It is a message that needs retelling in every age. 

I'm thinking I might try embroidering the pattern of the plate with the words in the centre for the upcoming Guild Exhibition themed 'Nature by needle'.

Perhaps my encounters with doves have infiltrated my brain.