Post 588 Nature and Nurture

 

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Sadness and reflection have lurked, kept at bay by routine activity, many conversations and flora. My sincere thanks to friends and family for sustaining messages of support. 

When the window cleaner left on Wednesday, the 11th anniversary of Jim's death, I visited Centennial Park Cemetery. As ever, the gardens are beautiful and the bird sounds around his Banksia Court area are uplifting and life-affirming.

The tree over Jim's ashes (right) is thriving as are the succulents. I take a couple of extra cuttings from my pots each time I visit. Some strike, some don’t.

The tree is laden with gumnuts.

I spent a bit of gentle time helping Barbara with forms, also with my daughters remembering times we spent with Ken and sharing photos. Health permitting, we will attend his funeral later in the week. 

Routines continue. My airconditioning unit was serviced - more thoroughly than ever before, every outlet checked, as well as motor, valves and electronics. The serviceman also checked and clarified how the bathroom extraction fans operate. When his report arrives I shall pass it on to the electrician who is still working on quotes.

On Friday I had Xrays and scans on a lump that has developed on my left foot. It turns out to be a ganglion. Benign - leave alone unless it rubs on shoe, when it can be injected. I seem to be prone to these. I had one removed below my ear when I was about 9 years old as well as the one recently removed from my hand for the second time.  At least I don't stitch or open jars with my foot.

I gave embroidery priority to the Kasia Jacquot bags, written up in my embroidery blog.

I have several more of these to go, and am really enjoying them.

I also bought a yarn pack for this year's Shetland Wool Week beanie. I had resolved to try it in two colours only, but when Yarn Trader offered a Jamieson and Smith pack I quickly grabbed one, but haven't started it.

I have been asked to be the after dinner speaker at the Guild's Country Conference, being held at Guild premises in the city in late July. Organisers are interested in the World Embroidery Study Group talks, so I've provided a list and agreed to do any of them. 

The last Saturday of the month is the St Margaret's Church Market so I headed off early in that direction, but a bit further, to West Lakes, to buy a double contour latex pillow recommended by physiotherapists (and hard to find in Adelaide) before calling at the church for plants. 

I haven't filled all my empty pots, but these (left )went some way towards restoring the balcony garden afree our hot summer. I had to empty old soil into compost bags and dispose of them before I could repot. 

Adding a couple of pots of blooms from a nursery (right) also helped. These have yet to be planted. There's a lot more to do over coming weeks, but recovery is well underway. .

There were interesting discussions at Book Club on Sunday, in particular relating to The Thrill of It by Mandy Beaumont. This is fiction 'loosely' based on a court case in which a man was convicted of murdering 6 'grannies'. The author has said she wrote it to give a voice to the victims and their surviving descendants. I ( and others in the Book Club) thought she gave a much more powerful voice to the perpetrator. I have always opposed censorship. If I had an incinerator I would have burnt my copy of this book. I felt contaminated by it. I do not want to be inside this man's head. I certainly don't want even a fictionalised version of him inside mine. Fictionalising true crime raises many issues.

I had time to think on it as I made moussaka on Sunday afternoon. I used pecorino in the sauce rather than kefalograviera. Pecorino isn't easily available in supermarkets, but kefalograviera is much harder to find. I also decided my usual 6 eggs was over the top, and settled for 4. While most of the dish disappeared, I think it was a bit sloppy. I'll return to 6 eggs in future. It was great to have a full 7 at dinner, and I extended the table with help from Brigid. I had a great conversation with Fionn about what he learned from his recent work placement.

This morning my fortnightly cleaners did their usual thorough and efficient job, before insisting on moving the extended table and quite heavy chairs to remove creases from the rug beneath. They don't like imperfection, and worry about me tripping. What service!

A dove is visiting again, choosing the only eastern balcony planter that needs a new plant. Maybe I should leave it free for doves.

At the hairdresser today, prompted by a discussion about unsolved Adelaide crimes, I explained my feelings about our recent Book Club read. 

My hairdresser's suggestion, which I came home and enacted, was to tear the book up and put it in the recycling to be transformed into something else. A few pages went into the compost bin, the rest to recycling. Job done.

It's been a week full of greenery and flowers. These flowers arrived from the Attorney General’s Department at the beginning of the week to thank me for the beanies. They are lasting really well, brightening my extended table - and my extended contemplations. 

Gratias.🙏