On Wednesday morning as I was having my breakfast in the chair close to the door on to my Eastern balcony, there was a loud thumping noise outside. I looked up to see a large magpie landing on my balcony rail. This rather strange photo was taken through the glass of my window. The flyscreen was across the doorway and I didn't want to risk frightening the bird away by opening it. I took a number of photos through the glass, then quietly drew my DSLR out of my sock drawer (where it lives to be handy to the balcony!) and slowly opened the flyscreen.
I managed to get quite a few very decent photos before it flew away. They are big, powerful birds and I wouldn't tangle with them. It is a great privilege to have one visit.
I saw my optometrist later that morning and am now back on steroid cream, with a bit of a plan about keeping the problem under control. It has improved with the cream, so I need to eventually find the sweet spot of control.
I got home to find a note in my letterbox from SAWater to say they will be working on the water supply on Sunday and the water could be off all day. My bookclub was meeting here that day. I can deal with the water being off, but they were likely to block off the street and make considerable noise which is less manageable. I phoned them to find out more, spoke to two different people, both of whom took my details and promised the project manager would contact me - but he didn't. I tried an online chat line with the same result. On Friday we moved the meeting. Just as well we did. The road was closed from 8am to 6pm, the digging was right outside and the noise still loud when I returned. In the meantime, we had a very engaged and interactive meeting at Pat's place. We try again here next month.
Saturday was my Viking Embroidery workshop for the Guild's Certificate Course. I was on edge about it, because my presentation was heavily history-orientated, which is not usual for the group. I had a kit with two embroidery projects a PowerPoint presentation, some Naalbinding needles and instructions and some lucets with instructions. During the week I worked a Naalbinding wrist band- the first time I had managed more than the initial cast-on row. It is crude, but gave me the idea of how it's done. While I like the idea of socks and hats in this technique, I plan to leave that to re-enactors. I'm planning to stick to knitting!
The workshop went really well. Those attending know my bent by now and assured me they love the history. Lucets were popular and most tried the wool embroidery and engaged with the dilemmas of historic re-creation. I was very relieved - and exhausted. Margaret Adams brought me two treasures - a proper chart of the exercise I'm planning for my September workshop, and an article on Namibian embroidery. They are both going to make a difference. I haven't found time yet to properly examine them.
I had a newsletter from the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal during the week. It's good to see them getting back into business and offering classes. I was also interested to read that they have finished the Dunera
panel for the Australian Quaker Tapestry. Like many of the stories told by the tapestry, it is one of Quaker intervention in a shameful episode in history. The extensive research behind the story can be found here.
Now that the Viking Workshop is over, I have plunged into researching and organising my presentation on the Goddess in Embroidery for the World Embroidery Study Group next week. While I had been gathering resources, I hadn't processed many of them so I've had to take a deep dive. It isn't as thorough as I'd like, but I think I have managed to get a rough timeline and framework. I spent about 8 hours on Sunday working on it, using PowerPoint as the organiser/resource organiser. At 11pm, just as I was about to quit, I lost the whole presentation to a message that PowerPoint was trying to recover it. The autorecover version turned out to be the one I had started with some 8 hours before! About 10 minutes later, as I was coming to terms with starting all over again, it recovered! I think I have an App memory problem. But grateful!
The flood waters from Queensland and NSW have reached Lismore, where I have friends. They fortunately live on a hill, in a Queenslander - a house that is built basically on stilts. They are safe from the flood waters, but sent this photo of the bottom of their hill. They have a friend and his dog, staying with them because his house - including his baby grand piano - is flooded!
I'm sure everyone is pulling together and will get through - but it is very, very, scary. Suddenly my bookclub being moved because of work on the water pipes does not seem important.
On Monday I cooked a large leg of lamb, potatoes, greens and Yorkshire puddings. I haven't made one for at least 40 years. I don't much like roast beef and, until my last trip to England, was not aware it is now served with any roast, not just beef. (a good example of migrant culture being fixed in a past time! )I thought roast lamb was a good place to start. They worked pretty well, and I will try again sometime.
I'm aware that as I write this, not only are people stranded on roofs in northern NSW and Queensland floods but much worse is happening in to people in Ukraine. While nothing I say here can help those affected, I need to acknowledge that the details of my week are unimportant in the light of such suffering.
🙏
