Post 479 Doves return to the new normal

In the last few days I have been sitting out on my back balcony for a morning coffee. I haven't done this before - preferring to sit inside looking out. However, the morning sun, the more comfortable chair I moved there in November when the painters were working on the front balcony and the summer plants have finally drawn me out.

As I was sitting there yesterday, one of the doves arrived and stayed for a good 20 minutes. I couldn't resist taking photos, some closeup, some against the sky.

It is  a privilege to be so trusted. If I were a marketer I might call it my coffee experience!

The week has sped past, with a return to some routines - Pilates last Thursday, a quarterly lunch with friends, JEMS on Saturday, and the return of Tuesday Stitchers at the Guild.

The lunch was at Sho Sho, on King William Road - really lovely food and great company. JEMS seems off to a good start, and the proprietor of Queen St Cafe was very pleased to welcome Niamh and I back for our milkshakes afterwards.

My big achievement of the week was the completion of a tote bag for a friend's 90th birthday. Her celebratory lunch is this Friday. The bag has ninety embroidered stars and the details are in my embroidery blog. I've ordered some more of the fabric since it worked well.

Since finishing it, I have embarked on another baby cardigan, this time choosing the smallest of the 7 sizes in the pattern. I did have a 200gm ball of slightly off-white cotton in my knitting bag, ready to use, but have mislaid it somewhere along the line. I'm hoping it will turn up, but in the meantime I'm using ecru.

I've finished the back and one front, and am  working on the other. It is a LOT smaller than my first effort, which had 13  rows of motifs, compared to 9 here!

I had coffee with Panayoula in my diary this morning, but she had it in her diary for tomorrow, which is WES Group - so now we are meeting on Thursday!

We have a bit of reorganising to do tomorrow at WES, since our program for the year did not take into account the March Exhibition, which will close the Gallery for a couple of weeks. The request is that we staff the exhibition for that morning. Tomorrow will tell if we agree.  

I began another embroidery project at the Guild today - an idea that occurred to me this morning - but I'll save that to next week.

I will finish as I began, with the pleasant coffee corner on my back balcony. I should, of course, have taken the photo without the washing!