Having spent last Wednesday reading and pottering, I was about to catch a few minutes of late afternoon sun when I noticed this noisy miner perched on my western balcony rail, surveying the Square. Birds rarely visit this balcony, so I was careful not to disturb, observing from inside until it flew away.
On the eastern balcony, however, the doves are visiting most days, exploring the new plants. They seem to approve. 
I am now booked to repeat the Mexican Embroidery gig at the Guild’s General Meeting in March next year. The technology arrangement should have improved by then.
On Thursday, just before Pilates, the post brought a bracelet from the Heart Research Foundation. I have agreed to take part in a data-gathering exercise. It involves wearing a bracelet for one week to measure directional movement. I put it on straight away - exactly 12.00pm, and will take it off at the same time next Thursday to mail it in the return envelope provided. 
After Pilates I called at the Guild to catch one of the organisers of the pre-Christmas fund-raiser, who had asked for donations of Christmas ornaments and bookmarks. I have a supply of cardboard bookmarks I have had printed. I punch holes in them, add ribbon and use them as gift tags. The recipient gets a message on the back, and can use it as a bookmark if they read in hard copy. I wasn’t sure if these would be acceptable for the sale, or whether they needed to be embroidered. Turns out they are acceptable, so I’ve been busy adding ribbons or cords. I expected to have to buy ribbon, but found enough bits and pieces in my stash. A metre or so of complementary silk ribbon helped a lot, once I ironed out the kinks. I now have 48 bookmarks ready to hand over.
I also finished making a Santa ornament today (detail in my embroidery blog), and have a couple of other things in mind.
On Friday I finally got myself organised to visit the Dangerously Modern Exhibition at the Art Gallery. It is really, really good. As I expected, it is far too much to take in in a single visit, so I settled for a 40 minute walk of the whole exhibition, reading enough to get an idea of themes and pausing when something caught my eye (a lot!). I got to the end as my sciatica kicked in, so sat for a bit in front of Stella Bowen’s fabulously evocative Embankment Gardens c1938, thinking that this was as my father, and other young Englishmen and women must have known the Embankment when war broke out in Autumn 1939. 
There is so much of interest here. I’m pleased I bought a season ticket. Amongst my favourites were the Margaret Preston Harbour Bridge, most of the pottery and Josephine Muritz-Adam’s A Gypsy belle c1896. The exhibition has another 5 weeks to run and I’ll try to get back a couple more times. I bought the excellent catalogue to be better prepared, before managing to find a table to enjoy what must be the best Caesar Salad in Adelaide.
Dinner on Saturday night was rich in food and netball news. The cat community will have been kept up to date by the silent presence in the corner.
The rest of my weekend was spent shopping for ingredients for Monday’s moussaka, and cooking the same. I usually get the ragu underway on the top of the stove, then slice and bake the eggplant. When both are done, I assemble the layers in a baking dish before making the sauce - a bechamel to which are added Kefalagraviera cheese (while the sauce is still hot) and egg yolks (once the sauce is cool). I then add the sauce to the top and refrigerate.
For some 50 years I’ve made this the day before then baked it for an hour before serving. On Sunday, however, my sharpened awareness following recent food poisoning publicity made me pause to think about the egg yolks in the sauce - the only thing uncooked in the dish. Should I really leave them uncooked overnight? A bit of checking suggested a 24 hour maximum. To be absolutely sure I changed the habit of 50 years and baked the whole dish, before refrigerated it, then reheated it for dinner on Monday. Paranoid? Probably. But not sorry.
Both were gone 10 minutes later.
August is SALA month - South Australian Living Arts, when artists display their work in shops, public spaces and anywhere there's space. The Unley Shopping Centre has turned a vacant shop into a Gallery for the duration, showing the work of Bill McSwain. It looks great - lots of native birds, some in landscapes. Also ceramic dishes.
I've observed with interest from outside. I have no wall space left and do not want to be tempted..
I have another busy week coming up - hostess duty at the Guild tomorrow, a birthday dinner on Thursday, my new bathroom cupboards arriving on Saturday morning, a concert in the afternoon and dinner with a visiting friend on Sunday. Not to mention knitting.
Carpe diem.
