Post 205 Photo Extraction,Young Doves and Friends Stitching

The young dove with the dark breast was back around 7.30 this morning, on its own, alert and surveying the scene before dropping to the balcony floor to eat the seed I had already put out in anticipation.

Once again, it was a windy day. The dove's feathers were continuously ruffled by the gusts.He or she ate quickly, consuming 80-90% of the seed in a short space of time, before flying away.

I have a feeling I will be seeing more of this bird, so I have decided to call it Stormy - because of its storm-cloud coloured breast.


There were no other birds trying to muscle in, or monitor Stormy's behaviour. I replenished the seed because I thought others might want some

About an hour later, the other young bird, with the pink breast appeared and repeated the act, eating uickly and thoroughly before flying away.  I am going to dub this one Blush. Again, no other birds interfered.Perhaps the older birds were holding a meeting and the younger ones took advantage - qor perhaps they have been anointed by the elders to visit and forage. Are they sharing or has the baton passed to the younger generation? Watch this space.



I returned to the 1970s albums and set about removing photos from the large album. with the help of my butter knife. There are batches of high-quality black and white photos from 1972/3 that won't come off without damage. Most later photos will come off with care and time.

After removing about 60 photos with great care, I thought of looking for advice online as to the best way to remove them. An archivist has a video that gives two main methods. Her first choice is to use a very fine blade, such as a medical instrument to prise them up. The second is to work dental floss under them. I hunted down my dental floss and tried it. My butterknife is better.

The third method mentioned is to lift a corner and spray underneath with one of the those sticky label removers. I tried this on one stubborn photo and it worked a treat. We'll see how I go tomorrow. I scanned most of those still stuck on using the PhotoScan App.


This afternoon was Sit'nStitch with a couple of friends. Jennifer has finished her bag, which is truly splendid. I'm thinking of writing up the story of this Covid bag for the Guild Newsletter. It is a testimony to beauty perseverance and survival.

Back of bag

Susan has finished her most recent blanket, also splendid.

On the way home I noticed the Jacaranda street trees greening up.










It was a cloudy sunset.



I'm tired writing this. It has been quite a long, but enjoyable and productive day.








I did another ten rows of knitting at  this afternoon's Sit'nStitch and this evening I managed another quarter of first pass of the inner row of Caterina.


My cleaner has asked if we can swap tomorrow morning for Sunday morning. I agreed readily. I can now sleep in tomorrow morning before I begin scanning!

Post 138: Getting Organised

Turtle turned up this morning, waiting for seed and allowing me to distribute it and take photographs from one metre away.










I needed to be at the Toyota service centre by 10.30. It was well organised, distancing measures in place, and the coffee's still good. I got them to adjust my clock back from daylight saving (yeah, well...), restore the voice on my GPS and give me advice on the dent I put in the back passenger-side door when avoiding a mad woman in February.  My service guy, Mason, was patient, courteous, obliging and unfazed.

I now have the name of a crash repairer.

I got quite a bit of knitting done while waiting - finished the plain band and began the next lace band.




Afterwards, I went to Officeworks to purchase some more document boxes. I have decided to use them to organise my Appleton's threads. I bought 5 of them, 4 coloured, with a view to using the colours to separate and organise the threads.

From there I went to Create in Stitch to pick up a few bits and pieces. Di Kirshner had a class going. It's great to see people distanced, enjoying themselves and concentrating.

Since it was now nearly 2pm and I was hungry, I stopped at Mr Nick's and had an excellent calamari lunch.

Back at home, I tackled my old Appleton's storage system.










I managed to divide them into four main colour groups (cleverly aligned with the box colours!) and then arrange them in rough number order.


I suspect I should have gone for the wider storage boxes.

They do, however, just fit. The advantage of this system is that I can see the numbers through the box and it is easy to pick out a set of blending colours.
















That left the clear box for me to use for the threads I need for my current project and the fill-in bits for my Crewel chair. .


I didn't start the Oak Apple Tree tonight. I wanted to get the next (lace) band done on my shawl. I managed that.


I have a window cleaner coming at 8am in the morning, so I'd better get to bed.

Post 137 : from an acorn...

Another bright, chilly morning.

I worked my way through numerous emails - especially those ones I had set aside to read or deal with at some time in the future.  They included decisions about concerts that won't happen - refund, carry-over or donate.  A new normal.

Others were emails that needed a thoughtful, considered response.

I enjoy doing this. It was a treat to take the time to do it.



The goal I had for the day was to finish the Acorns. This too was an enjoyable task.

I have come to love both the acorns and the leaves - the stitches, colours and shapes.

The blocked Jacobean Sampler was dry, so I could remove it from the blocking board and block the acorns.

Before I did, I tried the two on the chair and have worked out just how to add them to the cushion.I had thought I might have to create at least one filler to cover gaps, but I now think I can cover the spaces with the two linens.

Tomorrow I have to take my car to be serviced and the Acorns are unlikely to be fully dry. Looks like Tuesday is the day.



I decided to embroider Oak Apple Tree next.(while I'm on a acorn binge). I didn't know what an Oak Apple Tree is, so looked it up. What I had assumed was an apple like any other is in fact a gall created by wasps. Oak apples are inedible for humans although they are used in  medicine in a number of cultures.



I haven't as yet chosen the threads for it

I think it's a lovely design so I hope I  can do it justice.

This evening I worked on my shawl. I've neglected it of late.  I have about another 10 rows to finish this stripe. Shawls have so many shapes, it is really interesting to see the different methods of achieving them work out as you knit.


I phoned my friend Pat in Sydney this evening and had a lovely long discussion about how to fix the world. Conversations with friends are , I'm sure, good for the soul.


It was Susan's birthday today. I do hope she had a good day. I know Jennifer was baking a cake.

Post 136 Doves and Acorns are back

I got organised with a few tasks this morning - blocked the Jacobean Sampler, mended the sole of my slippers,

got my next project in a hoop and found the threads for it.















Then Turtle turned up.  He stayed while I distributed some seed. Within a minute Myrtle was there as well.


They tucked in very cooperatively for about ten minutes before surveying the scene from the balcony rail and flying away.










An hour or so later there was an unmistakable loud bird call. The Noisy Myna was back to feed again.

















It was cold and clear for most of the day. Late in the afternoon the clouds lined up over the Hills. I'm sure there is some scientific explanation for the straight line.

I had dinner at Katherine and Anthony's. Anthony made a delicious risotto, and Niamh and Veronica made desert. Wow!





I got stems and leaves done on the Acorns.  I'm looking forward to doing the acorns tomorrow - they are amongst my favourite things to stitch.

The Jacobean Sampler was still a little bit damp this evening, so I shall leave it until tomorrow to remove from the blocking board. I'll wait until the Acorns are finished before adding them both to the cushion.