After last week’s post a friend from my days of employment contacted me to point out Feng shui principles of flower arranging dictate always even numbers of blooms - 1, 3, 5 never 2,4 6, not something I knew. I therefore removed one of the Waratahs, a good chance to use this elegant single stem vase. It’s an odd cultural mix, but pleasing to the eye ( mine at least). The Waratahs developed sprouts from the bracts, suggesting, apparently, they had been over-fertilised.
I did a bit of searching. As far as I could ascertain, they are best propagated from seed and can be propagated by cutting. While not frequently used, the sprouts should work for propagation, provided they don’t have to compete with the flower..
I was intrigued (and the flowers were pretty much ruined) but don’t have space here in the apartment to experiment. A phone call, and my Waratahs are now at a friend’s place where Frank, who also grew up in NSW, is having a go.
Wednesday’s WES Group meeting went really well. We looked at the work of Phoebe Anna Trequair triggered by a workshop I did in 2015 with Meredith Willett. Influence spreads a long way! This is the panel I made at that workshop.
We also worked on a program for next year.
After the meeting I submitted, to the Guild's monthly newsletter, an article about Lee's contribution to our group. It has been accepted and should appear next month.
While I was at the meeting, the Postie attempted unsuccessfully to deliver the bookmarks I had ordered. I picked them up from a locker at the PO later. Once again, a box 20 times the size of the contents, which, in an envelope, would have gone easily through the letterbox. Sigh. 
One set of bookmarks, the Agave, was again, for my Pilates Studio - the photo of the Agave in full bloom 2 weeks ago. The last hurrah.
After I made my breakfast coffee on Friday, the coffee machine displayed the ‘clean me’ message. I’d been waiting for it, getting prepared, so this time didn’t rush in. I had breakfast, deliberately did a few jobs, then read the instructions again and set out to follow them. It went like clockwork. Everything happened as it should. I cleaned the coffee machine! - and had another coffee to celebrate. Pathetic, maybe, but I was hugely relieved. I can do it! My joy, however, was shortlived. On Saturday morning the machine switched on and displayed as normal. It did not, unfortunately, deliver coffee. No messages, no warnings, just no coffee. The bean container was full, the water tank full. A grinding sound, return to ‘ready’. No coffee. Repeat several times. Same.
On with the jug, out with the plunger. First thing Monday morning I returned the machine to the shop, which, fortunately, is the licensed service agent. This morning I had a call from the technician. The coffee beans I've been using are too big! They don't make it to the grinder. Since 1985 I have been using Maragogype (or as it was then known here, Nicaraguan dark roast). It's only now that I realise it has an abnormally large bean (apparently the largest known!). As I also use two other coffee varieties with much smaller beans, this will not be too great a lifestyle change! I can only shake my head and laugh.
To keep my mind off coffee machines, a group of lorikeets arrived on the native frangipani and made a racket. Two stayed behind to feed when the others got bored, so I grabbed the camera.
Below, play spot the bird. 
Late on Friday I received a message that my friend Lorraine had died on Thursday night, her struggle with pancreatic cancer over.
I am sad, remembering the meals we shared, her enthusiasm for dressing up, and the mysteries she kept to herself. I am also glad her suffering is over. It is likely to be 12-14 days before her funeral.
Several years ago, Lorraine gave me a cactus garden in a shallow terracotta bowl. Over time one plant came to dominate and a couple died. I noticed while tending my plants this week that the weight of the dominant plant had pulled it right out of the bowl (left), so I have replanted it in a much larger pot. The shallow bowl is waiting, with a few other empty pots, for me to spend a few hours replanting. Maybe a tiny memorial.Throughout the week, a male blackbird has been visiting my balcony, flying in silently, often behind my back while I am hanging out washing, sitting in the same spot on my wall garden, and, except once, flying away as soon as I turn around. On the exception, I turned from hanging out washing, to see him watching me. I quietly greeted him and asked him not to chase away the other birds. I’ve glimpsed his arrival through my window, but he flies away immediately- seeming to sense I am watching. I don’t recall seeing him before. My mother, would certainly, I reflected, have said it was bringing me news of a death.
On Monday he once again flew away as I tried to take a photograph. This time, however, the camera clicked, revealing a female amongst the plants. My mother, once again, would have rolled her eyes and said 'For an intelligent child, you can be very stupid at times'. Yes. a pair of blackbirds seem to have made a nest on my eastern balcony. I can't get high enough, without a ladder, to look inside. I panicked a bit, read all I could about blackbirds nesting on balconies in Adelaide (not a lot) and followed one suggestion of hanging some aluminium foil strips to put them off. I felt a bit mean, and it didn't work. They may or may not have eggs according to local bird advice.
My inclination now is to leave them alone. I might regret it, but so far the male has not been aggressive towards me. This afternoon they appeared to fight over who was to sit on the nest. At sunset tonight the female was quietly bunkered well down in the nest. *
Installing a webcam is beyond my technical ability. Hopefully in 4 weeks time they will leave and I can either spread some netting over the wall garden, or instal a deterrent WhirlyBird. I don't want to become a permanent nesting site but can probably put up with one clutch.
When I delivered the Waratahs to my friends to experiment with, they gave me a bunch of their beautiful roses for my dining table that evening. They look, and smell, divine.
Today I have been to a Retired Secondary Principals' lunch, half an hour's drive into the foothills. I haven''t been for a couple of years. It was pleasant to catch up with some of the 15 who were there and, after a lunch of grilled fish and chips, hear about some research into school leadership. On my return I had a phone call to say my new bed is ready. Delivery (the scary bit) sometime next week.
It's been quite a week!
I progressed the second left-over-wool shawl a bit, and started work on the lovely Chaffinch kit.
It's a joy to work on. I won't be posting any detail in my embroidery blog, as it would breach copyright. It's interesting, varied stitching - and lovely to look at. Great to be working Crewel again.
Above is Sunday's sunset, left is tonight's moonrise.
The rhythm, and beauty, of life.
Carpe diem.
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