post 434 It's raining, it's pouring.....

I'm conscious as I write this of family members, friends and friends of friends who are ill and in the hands of doctors and nurses working long hours and applying all their skills to find answers and treatments. While I can't tell their stories, they put my week's trivia into perspective. I  hope their persistence prevails. I'm treasuring moments each day.

Much of the early part of my week was spent getting my blanket project set up and embroidering horses. I am slowly moving from the 'dapples and greys'. I've written about it in my embroidery blog.  It's a pleasant project to work at the moment, because it's cold. Although I keep the apartment heated, it's very cosy stitching the blanket spread over my legs. 25 horses to go.

In Adelaide the rain has kept on coming. There are dry spells in between, but even then it is mostly overcast and grey.  Some evenings the sun sets behind cloud and the light simply fades, but some nights there has been enough sky to provide a show. 

Early in the week some plants I had ordered from Melbourne Bushfood arrived - four native herbs and a couple of succulents. I was waiting for a couple of tiered containers I had ordered to plant them. These arrived on Saturday morning They were simple to assemble - quite natty. They are on wheels and pushing the wheels into their slots was the hardest bit - that just required a bit of strength.  

Netball is preventing Niamh from going to JEMS at the moment, so I had plenty of time to go shopping for Monday dinner items and then to the nursery for potting mix and more plants. 

It took a while in the rain, but I now have one on each balcony, bush plants facing West and flowers facing East - both wheeled to where they will get rain. I'm hoping most of the plastic will be covered with plant before too long.

Also on Saturday, I took possession of my Adelaide climate scarf by Sandy Lepore. Sandy is making a limited number of scarves of annual climate change to raise money to mount and tour the project. I'm privileged to have one- a wonderful talking point.  I've promised her a photo of me wearing it. 

On Sunday morning I had an email from the Heart Foundation promoting their Walk for Heart Health program. Out of curiosity I filled out their questionnaire and received a 6 week exercise plan based on my answers. The first week involves 3 x 20 minute walks, so, in a break in the rain, I walked for 20 minutes along Pulteney Street and around the Square. On the other side of the square there were 3 Adelaide rosellas having a fine feed in a street tree. They let me get quite close. The photos, taken on my phone, are  not the best - the phone doesn't too well on zoom.

They still give a sense of the size. I might just take my DSLR next time! I also noticed for the first time that the orange trees planted in the small front gardens of our apartments have fruit on them.

I'm still restricting my fruit intake, but I do hope someone picks and uses them.

There are lots of leaves about - and more apartment blocks going up on the opposite side of the Square.

The rain continues relentlessly. No one got wet getting here on Monday after school. One of the girls commented that our grey sky was her image of England until she learned it wasn't always like that (Midsomer Murders has a lot to answer for!). Two weeks of grey skies is unusual in Adelaide - but there's no sign of it clearing.

Yesterday I also visited Nordic Design Furniture and ordered two cabinets, one for storing family memorabilia and the other to replace a sewing cabinet that no longer fits comfortably in my living room. I've thought long and hard about these. The main game is to store items I have from my grandparents, my parents and a few from my late husband. I've debated whether to include document boxes, but in the end restricted it to realia to keep the size manageable. I want it to sit beside a sofa as an end table, replacing this trunk. The new one will have generational drawers and a glass top under which I can display an unfinished embroidery of my mother's.  Their current build time is 22-24 weeks

Today Panayoula and I met for coffee at Muratti Cakes and Gateaux on Prospect Road.  While we both resisted the cakes on offer, she brought me a gift of two sweets from her recent family celebrations. We cut our time short when she had a distress call from another friend.

There were plenty of people out and about along Prospect Rd, many with their dogs.

I detoured past Create in Stitch on the way home, getting back in time to eat the slice of lemon syrup cake above (delicious) before cleaning my teeth very thoroughly and heading out on foot to visit my periodontist down Pulteney St. This clocked up two more walks - 18 minutes one way and 14 the other, but quite a bit of waiting at lights. Don't think I can count these as one of my three! 

The sky was pretty gloomy to the East, but the sun struggled through over Calvary Hospital (a view to the Southwest this time, as opposed to the Northwestern one from my balcony).

Andre, my periodontist was very pleased with my teeth and dental hygiene - so I won't see him for a year (provided the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise). 

Before I set to work to finish the 25 horses on the blanket, I wanted to complete the design I started at the Guild's Certificate Course workshop a week ago. I finished it yesterday and am pleased with the result. The detail, as usual, is in my embroidery blog.

My shawl is progressing slowly. I put it aside for embroidery projects - but it is moving along.

I also finished a roll of paper towel this week, and the cardboard roll in the centre was a strong one - so I used it to make another roll to keep embroidery-in-progress. I have 3 of these, and they are really useful. I had a long Japanese fabric waiting for just this opportunity, so I took it.

So now it's back to where I started this week - amongst the horses.