On my Eastern balcony, various succulents have come into bloom over the last week or so, aloe buds opening joyfully and the jade, cassula ovata, sending out long stems of tiny star flowers that I’ve not seen before.
The cassula plant itself (below left) is thriving, along with the swordfern, (well below) clearly enjoying the rain and milder sunshine.
There is a lot of work, however, to be done on the Western balcony where I still need to replace and replant after the summer heat. It's a job I will get to over the next month, but in the meantime I am just enjoying what I have.
The highlight of my week, however, was the 80th birthday celebration for a Guild friend, held as a lunch at the Marion Hotel. I’ve not been there before and very much enjoyed the atmosphere in our room, dominated by a huge eucalypt reaching through the roof.
I had a great time in our Guild corner, having time to talk to a small group of members I rarely see for more than a few minutes. It was a chance too, to meet and talk with a couple of spouses, all the while been plied with rounds and rounds of finger food.
I had managed to knit my friend the 2025 Shetland Wool Week beanie for her birthday. The blog post is here. The only blot on my day was the ticket I received exiting the carpark. The hotel is on the corner of a busy road with no traffic lights. As I needed to make a right-hand turn I plotted a path away from the intersection, down the side road, without realising it was, for the length of the hotel carpark, a one-way street. The carpark was busy and I had turned into the side street heading the wrong way before realising my error.
I couldn’t see how to reverse, and there was nothing coming, so I went ahead, immediately there were flashing lights and the siren of the police car. The lone officer was polite and understanding. He breathalysed me - the main purpose I presume, of his wait outside the carpark. As I had not had any alcohol to drink I did not add to his statistics. He took great pains to explain the road directions, booked me for ignoring a road sign and travelling the wrong way on a one-way street and said he would issue a fine for one offense with a caution for the other. Thoroughly decent - and I was in the wrong. At home I checked my licence record. As I thought, last month the last of my demerit points (the 3 for trying to take a photo of the mounted police while at a traffic light) expired, so for 17 days I’ve had zero demerit points. I had hoped to keep it that way but alas…
The birthday celebration meant foregoing our Book Club meeting on the other side of town. I spent a couple of hours on Friday recording and annotating what I had read since the last meeting to send off to the group. By Sunday evening, most members of the group had sent me lists of what they had read so I added them to our database.
I had read a fair bit. I finished reading the H.L Marsay Inspector Shadow series and binged last week on the Fiona Tarr Opal Fields series. I had enjoyed the first in the series a while ago, so plunged back in and read No.2-No.6 one after the other. The seventh is out, but I think I've had enough for a while. I'm now on to The Denisovans In the Captivating History series.
Last night I cooked Honey-Soy Chicken and Fried Rice for dinner. I forgot to take a photo of the chicken. It was tricky to get it cooked through without burning the honey-coated skin. I cooked it in advance while the solar panels were active then heated it covered in aluminium foil. It worked well.
In the meantime I have ploughed ahead wth the Berwick cardigan. I've pinned a section to show the curl. It's slow-going in the round, but progress is evident. Here it measures 30cm in height - according to the pattern, another 4cm to go before I add steeks for the arms. It still looks huge in width. That's hard to measure, but it's about 1.8 metres around. It won't be too small. More like a coat. This afternoon, after swimming, I've added another 2cm to the height. With a bit of luck I'll be up to the armhole steeks next week.
