Post 396

On Wednesday I had lunch at Mr Nick's again with Dawn and Jennifer. They are both thinking of joining the Guild, and since then, Jennifer, I know, has joined. I hope they get as much pleasure and learning from belonging as I do.

It has been a week of periods of rain and sun. The balcony plants have responded well.  

I got carried away with more Viking work before posting a summary of my efforts on my embroidery blog. I'm not entirely satisfied with my final choice of metallic thread. The exercise has made me consider the whole issue of historic reproduction or representation and the limitations of both. On Saturday I visited Create in Stitch and bought some silver Perle 5 to have another play. In the very least there is a lot to talk about in a workshop!

I was back at Pilates on Thursday, where the class was taken by Leanne and stretched me in a slightly different direction. In the late afternoon I sat on the western balcony, feeling good in my body and the sunshine until it got too hot and I moved inside. The Strata AGM for our apartments is coming up. I mistakenly thought it was last Thursday and had, after some issues with the software, voted online. I had my dates wrong and it's next Thursday. No harm done, I am at least ahead of myself, if not on the ball.

Friday would have been my father's 102nd birthday and I had a whim to gather and post some photos to Facebook. It's good to look back over photos and remember him in the numerous contexts of family that occasion photos. Some of my favourites though, are the ones of him caught in typical, ordinary poses.

I also started preparing my 2020-21 tax return, gathering and ordering the various documents and receipts for a visit to the accountant. I was about half way through when I left for Sit'nStitch. I finished the process on Saturday, and have emailed the accountant for an appointment. I'm pleased to have pushed myself to do this. It's much easier to keep on stitching! 

The process of getting organised encouraged me to keep going and finish the task of gathering my Conversations with Baby Boomer Teachers into a book. I had progressed this a few months ago, but left it at the proof-reading and adding the last chapter stage. I spent all Sunday working on it and spare minutes on Monday. I had originally intended to try creating a cover from a photo collage, so gathered a few possible photos together before deciding it wasn't going to work. I have come up with this fairly crude but simple effort. The photo is a of banner created as part of a Multicultural Community Art Work  by the girls during my principalship at Gepps Cross Girls' High with the help of a group of artists for an exhibition called Threading Our Lives. I thought it appropriate. I also have an offer to design a cover from a BB artist, but it will probably take some weeks. Comments are welcome.

While on an organisational roll I cleaned up my emails - either completed or deleted all those surveys, requests for feedback, articles I'd been saving and got it down to 20. So far I've managed to keep it there or below. Another little goal!

It rained on and off all week, but the plants still needed watering a couple of times. I watered before hanging out washing on Sunday and filled up the water bowl. My dove friend arrived on cue. He/she no longer waits for me to go inside before tucking in.

On Monday I cheated a little for dinner and bought two of Enzo's lasagna trays from Frewville, on chicken and one 'meat' - an interesting distinction! They went down well. Next time I might try spinach and feta.  To offset buying the ready-made lasagna I made another batch of Anzac biscuits. I also finished off this Sashiko napkin to place beneath some of the biscuits.

Late on Saturday I got a message from Ancestry. One of their recent additions is a service that packages data from individual family trees to show progression, or connections. The service had combined these four photos from my tree - me (a long time ago!), my mother Sylvia, her mother Nell and Nell's mother Kate. It gave me an idea that I spent most of Sunday playing with, before sending some experiments off to Officeworks for printing. 

There might be more news of the experiment if and when it works.

I had to stay in today until Chris arrived. He is a building inspector, engaged by our Strata to measure any issue of 'water ingress' since some residents have reported issues on their east facing windows. He was very pleasant, informative and interesting to watch. I had some issues a couple of years ago, but they appear to have been fixed by some flashing and capping work done on the roof. Chris's water meter says there is very little moisture in my walls - and that the building next door is now protecting my south wall from weather and moisture!  It's interactions with pleasant, expert people likeChris that really lift my spirits.

After he left I zipped out to the post office, then came home and finally ironed the alpaca shawl and wove in the yarn ends. The only way I could photograph it was by hanging it on the line. I wished I had ironed it earlier - I could have asked Chris, the building inspector, to hold it up for me!

It is lovely and soft, and toasty warm when wrapped around. I still have another of the Noro shawls to knit for myself, and I already have several shawls. One way or another it will find a good home.

Saturday was JEMS day. Niamh finished her Father's Day gift for Anthony and we enjoyed our milkshakes afterwards. I was delighted that mine didn't interrupt my downward weight trajectory. As of today, I have lost 9.4kg since 27 June - onward and downward!