Post 392 Bird, books, blooms and bookmarks

Last Wednesday I did a quick trip to Unley to get a few supplies. Niamh and Brigid were staying overnight at my place because they needed to be at school early the next morning to travel with the football team to Tintinara, a two and a half hour drive to the southeast. Niamh was playing in two matches and Brigid organising equipment etc. The stay went smoothly. They won one match and lost the other.

While this was all going on, my friendly dove had found a comfortable perch out of the wind in my empty balcony window box (or is it a balcony box?) I grabbed my DSLR and took some shots. When I came to download them there was no connection to my laptop. Changing the cable didn't help. 

Eventually (2 days later!) I remembered that I could take out the memory card and somewhere I had a card reader. It took a while to find and remember how to use it, but I was eventually rewarded with some terrific photos. 

Still haven't worked out why the direct download doesn't work. Out of practice and out of touch - but still able to drag stuff out of my memory and figure a workaround!  

Back to Pilates on Thursday, where I got a lot of attention because two of our group were absent, leaving only two of us. 

Over Wednesday and Thursday I got quite a bit done on a bookmark I had ordered from the Fox Collection. I thought these would make good Christmas presents for a couple of friends. I ordered three designs I liked and began almost as soon as they arrived. I hadn't expected to enjoy doing it quite as much as I did. I finished the first one off at Sit'nStitch on Friday. Jennifer has made good progress on the crocheted shawl she started last week, and Susan is progressing an appliqued floor rug for a friend's baby. 

Before Sit'nStitch on Friday, I had coffee with a couple of  friends I worked with ten or more years ago. We had a good Covid catch up.  I also bought all the ingredients for a moussaka, which I spent much of Saturday making. I wanted to go to Basics2Beyond on Monday, so cooking needed to happen in advance.  It takes me a good four hours to prepare moussaka, and I usually do it in relays.  

On Saturday I did it in one go, which takes a bit of a toll on my sciatica - and makes a mess in the kitchen. The result, however, is well worth it. My new nutmeg grater got a good tryout. The Monday meal worked well.

In between cooking bursts, while waiting for things to cook or cool, I found some Solvi and copied my Design Online final design so I can attach it to my purple coat. This became my project for B2B on Monday. It's too hard to transfer the design directly on to the wool.

On Sunday our Crime Book Club met at a new venue, the Dulwich Bakery next to Heyne's Nursery on The Parade at Norwood. We had another good discussion. I hadn't read the recommended books - it's been a lean reading month for me. This group is very accepting and the discussion proceeds easily regardless of who has read what.

Again, there were lots of good ideas and recommendations shared. Next month I get to choose the books to discuss in October. I have a couple of ideas.

I was pleased to meet next to the nursery, which is a good one. I was looking for a wide, shallow bowl in which to place or replant the flat basket of plants on my back balcony. The basket has rotted. I realised, in looking at the nursery offerings, that most of the available bowls (designed, on the whole, as birdbaths) would be too heavy for my balcony. So I ended up getting a huge, 5" deep saucer. I'll let it sit for a bit before deciding whether to put holes in it and add more soil - or just add more soil.

I also bought another small pot of primula to add to the back balcony. It's smothered in buds, so should look good very soon.

The dry stalks of the Mandevilla I bought last December have burst into buds. It too should look lovely fairly soon. 

I also bought a punnet of blue cineraria, which I planted in a large empty pot on the front balcony. 

Sunday was 22C in Adelaide, sunny and breezy. I made the most of it - opened up the front and back doors to get a pleasant breeze through. Monday was back to 13C and rain. I watered the plants in, but they might get a little water in the next few days, although rain doesn't often penetrate the front balcony.

Not long after the sun set we had a few showers, then a bit of a storm. 

Monday brought showers between bursts of sun. I left early for Basics 2 Beyond, so I could pick up some carrot, cucumber, apple and a couple of Lebanese loaves for snacks for the kids on the way. Unfortunately the bakery had only just put the bread in the oven, so I had a coffee, picked up the bread and arrived late as usual at B2B. No matter, it is come and go as you need. I worked on the edges of my coat - applying the design I did for Design on Line.  I got the stem and a couple of leaves outlined, which is a good start.

I'm planning, at the moment, to keep this as my B2B project.

In the meantime, I progressed the Delft Blue bookmark - and loved it. It does, however, require concentration, magnification and holding in hand - not great for RSI. It looks quite good without some of the stitches. I finished the embroidery on Monday night and the construction this morning. 

I have also progressed my shawl knitting - but not enough to make a good photo!

I've enjoyed the bookmarks so much I dug out some Aida band I'd bought a couple of years ago to embroider for towels. It turns out to be about 17 count Aida. I prefer 14 count (which I can see!), so went searching online and found a really good collection of 14 count Aida at the Crafty Frog in Canberra. I've ordered a variety of pieces and dug out  my copy of Celtic Backstitch, which has a range of suitable patterns.

Wouldn't want to run out of things to do in a pandemic.

Today I had lunch with Jennifer and a past work friend who has just moved to the Adelaide Hills from Victoria. So much to talk about. Both she and Jennifer are thinking of joining the Guild. 

I took Veronica and Niamh to their final netball practice of the season. Brigid is in the Flinders Ranges helping on a school camp. We remain a bit of an island here in SA while the Covid Delta variant rages in NSW, spreads more slowly in Victoria and makes an appearance in Queensland. Here we have mask mandates, vaccination drives and 75% capacity in hospitality venues.

Feedburner appears to be still working. Their message says the email subscription service will be discontinued 'in August' .  I am ready to send manual emails if and when the automation fails. It's a bit 'test and see' at the moment. I hope no one is inconvenienced.

My final offering this week is the basil I bought yesterday at the greengrocer. As well as helping the Greek salad along, it is pretty attractive on the bench - and cheering.