Post 554 Spring, a long weekend and daylight saving.

You know Spring is here when Waratahs appear in the florist. These had been picked on Friday morning, in the Adelaide Hills, a few hours before I bought them. They are not native to South Australia, but I am, after all, a native of NSW! 

Apart from people, I don't miss much from my first 24 years in Sydney - Southerly Busters, humidity and flowers native to the Sydney region - flannel flowers, Christmas bush, Christmas Bells and Waratahs, none of which are commonly seen in Adelaide. I still love them and if I see them for sale, I buy them. My English migrant parents and grandparents cherished them, gathered them and tried to grow them. Uplifting.

In front of our apartments, and at the Pilates Studio, the wild irises are at their best.  Gentler than the Waratahs, they are nevertheless intricate and cheerful.

The Agave has finished flowering at Pilates. I took a final photo. I can’t resist the shape, perfect for a bookmark, so accordingly ordered another set. Hopefully my Pilates classmates will find a use for them. Again.

I had a quiet day as desk hostess at the Embroiderers' Guild on Wednesday. The computer tech was there setting up the new admin computer with our office manager while a couple of the Museum team were doing a handover on the Museum database. When left in charge I failed once again to answer the phone! It’s a tricky handset, and doesn’t respond to my button pressing. I progressed my knitting and wrote a tribute to Lee for discussion with WES group next week.  

The Bottlebrush- which IS native to South Australia, is on display everywhere, including in the Guild garden.

I saw my GP on Friday, getting the results of last week’s blood test. I’m pretty happy. My kidney is in good condition and my weight very slowly coming down.  My blood sugar is lower than last time but ideally should be a little lower.  We’ve agreed our current regime is working so should continue. I’ve made an appointment in about 4 months time. I like this new GP.  He listens, checks records, explains his thinking and provides data. It feels like a conversation and a joint effort.

Afterwards, having completed and tidied up all last week's work on passwords, I took a sealed package to my solicitor to add to the deed package before shopping for the long weekend and buying the Waratahs. 

I also took more jewellery to Pink Carat for repair. An 80cm long gemstone necklace given to me by a work colleague some 15 years ago had broken. I often wear it.  The central stone is heavy and had worn through the wire. We decided to make up the necklace without it. Can I find a use for a 3.5cm stone? Clasp on a bag?  (It's much more brown than the photo indicates.)

I also took the glittery clip-on earrings to see if they could be converted. Removing the clips on the back was not possible but I convinced them to add hooks through the little picots on the edge. They hang nicely, clips hidden behind. I often wear the matching brooch so now I can be truly glam! The amber pair were originally hanging from smaller amber beads on posts. One had detached and was lost. I prefer hooks anyway so got them to simply hang the teardrops from silver hooks. I also took advice on cleaning the sterling silver brooch.   This result was just using a silver cleaning cloth.

This morning I dug out both the ultrasonic cleaners I own.and experimented using the tips provided by Pink Carat. The tank on the older white one is larger, so I tried a silver pin tray in it. In the green one I placed 3 pieces of trench art, a coin medallion, a ring and a WWI medallion on a chain.

After several sessions all came up reasonably clean and shiny. The ring is made from a 1947 coin from India, the chain holds a regimental medallion engraved Div 5 1920-21. Once the pin tray was clean (relatively) I was able to see a hallmark, and out of curiosity, looked it up. I have never done this before, and had to dig around for a bit to find it. However, I am now confident the tray was made by William Aiken, silversmith of Vyse St., Birmingham in 1904! It seems amazing to have been able to discover that.

I experimented with a couple of vases for the Waratahs before settling on the one above. The dark vase looks good here, but was a bit heavy and dominant. 

It was the Labour Day long weekend and the commencement of daylight saving. As forecast, there was some rain on Saturday. The dripping noise came back. As promised, I notified the tradie who came last week, who, as I expected, did not come. He did ask if water was leaking into the apartment (it's not). It seems that other apartments also have leaks, and the Strata Committee is taking it up with our management company, so I'm happy. A problem shared....  Fortunately, contrary to the forecast, the rest of the weekend was rain-free.

As three books I had ordered on Libby were suddenly available to me, I spent much of the long weekend reading. In the Blink of an Eye was an interesting fictional projection of the use of AI in policing. My review, for anyone interested, is on Goodreads.   The Ledge by Christian White, as I realised too late,  is a thriller (with echoes of Lord of the Flies). I don’t much like thrillers. 

The treescape behind my apartment has changed with recent pruning and rainfall. I have a better view of what turns out to be a Callery Pear (left). 

I can’t remember seeing the golden leafed tree (right) bloom, but it is now beginning to do so, declaring itself, I think, a jacaranda alba. The next month or so should confirm or disprove this theory. Either way, it’s a lovely outlook.

I finished and blocked the Uradale shawl over the weekend. Details in my embroidery blog. I'm pleased to say spreading it in the sun yesterday has removed the sheep smell, and the woolwash has made it wonderfully soft. (The red is from the geraniums below the shawl!)

I have begun the next shawl based on a Dathan Hap pattern in Kate Davies' Knitting Season book.  The pattern is simple and interesting, increasing at the centre as well as the edges in a four row sequence, a lovely encircling shape with plenty of scope to vary colour.  

It will use up a lot of the Rowan wool left from the coatigan and blanket. It's fun to knit and nice to try something other than an expanding triangle.

I've also worked another small section of my sashiko square, and prepared two pieces of Huckaback for the hand-towel pattern in The Handpicked Collection 3. It's been a long time since I did Huck weaving, So I had a quick try. It is marvellously relaxing and effective.

I confess that this morning I dashed out to Create in Stitch  and bought the Chaffinch  kit advertised in their weekend newsletter. A Chaffinch, I know, is not a Bluebird, but it is a blue bird,  and I'm partial. I also know what I am going to do with this when finished.

I seem to have achieved (and committed to!) a lot this week. It is a product of spending much of it on my own over a long weekend with family away and few outside commitments. I have had trouble remembering what day it is. Tomorrow, however, is WES Group, and I need to make a presentation. Better check that over and head to bed.