Post 552 "The road goes ever on and on...

Although a couple of key members stayed away with colds (thank you!) from WES Group on Wednesday, 14 of us had a fine time hearing Barbara talk about the embroideries of four villages in Gujarat, which she visited several times, and examining a selection of the treasures she brought back.  

We also discussed at some length what we might do to record some of our memories of Lee to ensure her legacy is not lost. No decision as yet, but some possibilities to be further explored. It certainly helps to talk about it. Her funeral is on 27 September.

Nesting season is upon us. There are articles about avoiding being dive-bombed by Magpies (basically stay away from them for the next 4 weeks or learn to speak Magpie) but my balcony is host to less aggressively protective species.

The doves are puffing up to keep warm or feasting on the kalanchoe and a Rosella found a spot of sun above my balcony for a brief rest.

 

On Thursday  after Pilates I grabbed some lunch at Queen St Cafe before helping a friend with an insurance claim and staying for dinner. It was a good day - with more food than usual and great company.

On Friday I finally bit the bullet and got my tax information together. By cob I could email my accountant to request an appointment  (still no reply!) It's not an onerous task, just time-consuming and tedious. As I was on a roll, I spent Saturday sorting the wooden tray of receipts and to-be-filed documents. 

Before heading to family for dinner, I took a break to progress the Shetland beanie, only to discover I had skipped a section of the pattern, so undid the whole 5 rows I had achieved!   

Spring is very evident in Katherine's garden.

Sunday being a new day, I was  a woman on a mission,  summoning energy to don mask and gloves, open doors and pour chemical cleaner down my bathroom hand basin drain, following the instructions carefully, before heading out to the Jam Factory just after it opened. The basin has been draining slowly for a while but it was only after listening to the plumber working at the Guild a couple of weeks ago that I realised what I needed to do. As I had neglected this for years, I needed to leave the solution in the pipe for several hours before clearing with hot water, so figured I was best right out of the way.

At the Jam Factory I was in time to nab one of their four on-site parks,  find the gifts I was after, and visit the current Julie Blyfield exhibition, some of which I really liked, especially her pieces based around corals, a stunning combination of stitching and metal. It's the last week of the exhibition.

Back home I filed the results of Saturday’s sorting, prepared a package to be taken to the shredder, boiled rice to dry out for Monday’s dinner, had a long phone catchup with a Canberra friend, finished the drain process and knitted some correct pattern rows on the beanie. Amongst the discoveries in the filing are the beginnings of an inventory of my paintings, furniture and notes for a book I promised to help my brother with. At least they are now in a safe and accessible place (oh no, not that safe place again!).     

The small dot towards the top right hand corner of the sunset photo (above), taken at 6.50pm on Sunday, is, I'm fairly sure, Venus, the Evening Star, which, of course, put me in mind of Lord Tennyson. An appropriate sign at the end of the last couple of weeks. 

Meanwhile, today’s lunar eclipse occurred during the day here, so wasn't visible. The moon was particularly clear last night (right), while tonight (below) is the  glowing beginning of a super moon.

 

I’m curious to see what the Harvest Moon (northern hemisphere language: should probably be a Planting Moon!) on Sunday - the girls’ birthday.

Today I waited for postal deliveries before visiting friends. One was a Bothy Threads kit for - dare I say it - another cushion cover.  This one is of Bluebirds, for which I have a weakness. I sang Bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover and Bluebird of Happiness all the way to my friends' place.

The second package,  Christmas decos, by First Nations artists again frustrated me. The two small boxes would safely travel in an envelope to go through a letterbox, but came in a box big enough for dozen such boxes requiring me to be home. Sigh.

I like the native animal ones best.

 My day concluded with a phone call with a Sydney friend, catching some images of the moon, posting some photos of my father, who would have been 105 today. and getting the Shetland beanie back to the decrease row that I thought I had reached on Saturday. The photo doesn't capture the subtlety of the five colours!                                         The road goes ever on and on...

Post 550 Birds, a blind and ablaze with colour.

My personal big event this week was this morning's installation  of the blind I had ordered several weeks ago.

The installer arrived about 8.45am, with ladder, blind and left-over linen. Within minutes he had removed the old blind and had the new one balanced on his head as he positioned and drilled the screws in place.

By 9.05 it was all over. I had a new blind and he was off to his next job, taking the old blind and its fittings with him.

The new blind has sun protective backing, which will help considerably in temperature regulation.

It does take up a little more space when up than the old one (left), but I can afford to lose the tiny bit of light and sky.

I am delighted with it. I think I knew as soon as I was given the fabric, that it needed to be put to such use. It took a few years to pluck up courage. It does justice to the fabulous linen fabric, to the artist, the giver and the birds on the other side of the glass.  Gratitude.

While the blind uses the whole fabric piece I was given, the plain linen surround required to make it fit the window space resulted in significant off-cuts, which now belong to me. To my surprise, these are even-weave - 36 count, which is finer than I now choose to use, but not outside my stretch. At the very least there are fellow embroiderers who will use it.

More projects!

I had begun the week with a visit to the coffee machine shop to discuss the problem I was having with the clean and decalcify lights on my new machine. The staff had no experience of the problem and suggested I bring it in for them to look at. This I did the next day (sigh). They have only one technician at the moment and a backlog, so I am back to plunger coffee. To cheer myself up, I paid a visit to the wetlands, looking out for birds.  

                                  

I had no trouble finding them.          

They were all foraging in the ground and seemed to be finding what they were after.

The sulphur crested cockatoos were happy alongside

the long-billed corellas.

The magpie kept to itself.

My 8th COVID vaccine on Friday resulted in the predicted sore arm and tiredness, also about 48 hours of heartburn, which I can't attribute to any other cause. 

Knitting did not make my arm any more sore, so I'm pleased to say I am now on the home run with the blanket, currently adding the final side to the border. I will write it up in an embroidery blog later this week - once the recipient has it. The photo is of the finished squares joined together before the border (and before pressing!). It has had its challenges but I'm pleased with the result - and the process.

The temperature is warming a little and the signs of Spring are everywhere evident. The tree behind my balcony now has visible buds.

     The back balcony pots are awash with colour, and that ring-in coral tree has come into its own, matched by Thursday's sunset.         

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Post 507 Adelaide Rosella calls

I had friends to lunch on Sunday, so spent much of Friday shopping and much of Saturday preparing. 

 

I cooked Peking Flavour Duck Breasts. I also planned to try a new potato dish for Monday night, and originally thought I'd use it for both meals, but realised Cheesy Potato Bake is hardly a fitting accompaniment to Peking Duck! 

I tried buying some fried rice from a takeaway in the Unley Shopping Centre, but it didn't appeal, so I gave in and made my own, boiling the rice on Saturday and leaving it spread out on a tray overnight in the fridge, then frying it all up the next day. It was, I'm happy to say, excellent. 

Over lunch I was bewailing the fact that while I had taken hundreds of bird photos, I hadn't seen a single Adelaide Rosella this year. Less than half an hour after my guests had left, I heard the telltale screech. I spent a long time holding my camera, unable to see the bird hidden in the leaves. When located,  it was a black shape against the sky. I snapped away, and was able to adjust the colour and light to triumphantly expose the rosella colour. I am grateful for the visitation, and regard it as a good omen for friendship and the journey my friends are about to take.

The jacarandas are still not as vibrant as other years, being a mixture of blossom, new growth and still-attached old leaves. It varies considerably across the city, but there is less full-purple impact this year. Happily, the young one the Council planted in the Square a couple of years ago are looking healthy.

As my friends were leaving on Sunday, a couple of men were searching a section of the Square with metal detectors, spring what they seemed to be digging up about a spade depth below the turf. Long lost items or buried treasure?  This morning I read a story of a family in Norway who found Viking burial items in their backyard, while searching for a lost earring.  I wonder what the men found in the Square.

We had a full complement on Monday night. The cheesy potato bake was a success alongside the honey soy chicken Maryland, but the left-over fried rice was too! Both will be on the rotation from now on. 

Last Wednesday I tripped getting out of the lift on my way back from collecting the mail. I'm still not sure whether the lift door was not level with the landing, or if I just stubbed my shoe, but the mail went flying and I fell heavily on my knees and left arm, across the foyer floor. I had trouble getting up, without putting all my weight on my knees. I managed to get myself across the floor to my door and use the handle as leverage to stand up. I could have called my neighbour, but was pleased to be able to manage myself. My knees and arm were bruised, but not enough to stop my doing Pilates the next day. I am paying more attention now as I exit the lift.

Honeyeaters dominate the balcony bird scene at the moment. Groups make swooping visits and zip around adjacent trees.

A couple of months ago, there was an appeal for buttons, to use on clothing being made for the Guild shop. 

This week my friend Vivienne sent me most of her significant button collection, some of which go back to at least the 1950s, probably earlier. I have saved a few for myself, including an addition to my Cat's Eye collection.  I also have buttons very similar to the white ones. I will deliver the remainder to the Guild next Thursday. It's so satisfying to be part of this continuity of recycling. Buttoned across time and place.

The cards I've had printed all arrived during the week. I won't reveal my Christmas card just yet.

The bookmarks  are everything I hoped for. The backs are blank so I can use them as gift cards.

Aquafit again today. Two safety pins largely tamed the floating skirt on my swimming costume. 

 

I have reached a milestone with the alpaca shawl. I am now knitting the lacy top border. only 14 rows to go, about 6,670 stitches. 

Not that I'm counting.

Post 454 A lot of productive time waiting for car services

The big news this week was that the painting of the exterior of our apartment building is about to begin on 7 November. It will take 6 weeks and includes our balconies. The bad news is we are asked to clear our balconies! My balconies are gardens and I have art works riveted to the walls. Removing either plants or wall art is a major undertaking. The alternative is to move the plants to the centre of the back balcony, or the window side of the front balcony. I have, of course, chosen this option. 

Theo, my neighbour, very kindly knocked on my door and offered to help. That is immensely kind. He also came up with the idea of covering up the pieces on the walls. That made me feel a whole lot better.

On Saturday, Ali, my cleaner offered to move all the plants - and we rearranged the front balcony. The two cane chairs are now stashed in the spare bedroom. I've decided to only put one cane chair back when it's done, and to put the other on the back balcony. That means I can dispose of two mesh outdoor chairs. I never use more than one on each balcony, so this minor downsize should work. 

I also bought 4 packets of eco-friendly Glad Wrap and plan to encase all the wall pieces before 7 November. I might need Theo's help for a couple. l I feel much more relaxed.

On Sunday morning, before the rain  I moved the hose, potting mix, fertiliser and tools into my spare bathroom and a couple of pots from the back balcony inside.

I now have a couple of pots right next to my bedroom chair. My bathrooms have no windows, so not an option for plants for 6 weeks. Next weekend I'll finish stacking the plants in the centre of the back balcony and, hopefully, cover all the wall art with plastic.

A friend and I had plans to visit St Dominic's Priory on Sunday when their embroidered cope was being exhibited. It turned out to be only from 10.30am -12.00 noon, and my friend was rostered on for her church service at the same time, so we cancelled. 

Possibly a good thing, given the rain that was bucketing down by 11. 

It cleared up a bit in the afternoon, so I went for a walk in the wetlands. There were quite a few dog walkers and a family of ducks assessing the water. 

While I was waiting for my cleaner to arrive on Saturday,  a pair of Adelaide Rosella's began feeding on the native frangipani. I managed to get some photos to brighten up this post.

I spent last Wednesday morning waiting while my car was serviced - no hardship, there is decent coffee and a wide open, well-ventilated waiting area with wifi. I read an article in a  New Yorker sent to me by a friend, caught up on emails and didn't get any knitting done. All is well with my car, although it was due for new tyres. These were replaced today - a 4 hour job. Once again I chose to wait, rather than chance spend time walking in the rain and catching buses.

I finished off this post, worked on my WES presentation for next week, and had a surprise visit from a friend from Melbourne, passing through on her way to Ardrossan. The time passed very quickly.

Last week I also finished off the pouch I was making from last week's Certificate Course. The detail is in my embroidery blog.

The New Yorker article I read while waiting for the car last week  (thanks Pat) was "On the Rocks: A hundred years of The Waste Land" by Anthony Lane, When I got home I found my copy of The Waste Land  and read it aloud, not as well, I'm sure, as Benedict Cumberbatch, whose reading, accompanied by an orchestra and Anthony Burgess's score, Lane had attended, but enough to retrieve the rhythm and some of the nuance.

I had to go back quite a way in my archive of photos (not, of course, back 100 years!) to find any that were remotely suitable for discussion of The Waste Land.  Oddly, those I found were taken on a visit to the Flinders' Ranges in 2009, with the friend who sent the article! We were flying over Lake Eyre on one of the rare occasion it was in flood. Obviously these were taken outside the flood area!

One thing Lane discusses is the different context to which generations apply the poem - more environmental today and more political in its early years. 

At the moment, Eastern Australia is experiencing severe flooding, while the west is in drought.   The Murray River System is as full as it's ever been - while, I gather, the Mississippi River is barely navigable in places. We maybe need the Ancient Mariner alongside The Waste Land.

Eliot's words are still powerful - and say far more than any photograph. 

I think I'll stick to my knitting, embroidery - and the birds, all life-affirming.

I had a request a few days ago to talk about Bulgarian embroidery at the Guild's General Meeting on 7 Nov, using the newly acquired Museum items. I'vs agreed. I don't usually go on Mondays, as I am  preparing for dinner, but I'll have to get organised in advance. 

Sunday's excursion was cancelled, but Saturday made up for it. Dinner was at Grange Jetty Cafe because the surf season has begun and Anthony & Brigid spent the afternoon on surf patrol. After our relaxed, pleasant meal we had coffee at their place, did the crossword, and I picked up my year's supply of Who Gives a Crap toilet paper which is more easily delivered to a house than an apartment.

Also on Saturday, an old friend, now living in Darwin, was in town and called in. I haven't seen him in years and it was wonderful to catch up. He is still trying to convince me to write with him! Maybe.

I've put in a bit of work on my last PowerPoint for the year which began as Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Embroidery but is morphing into English Embroidery in the Early Medieval Period, for the November WES meeting. This has been a long and wandering journey, which I reckon started in my undergraduate course. I had planned to do my honours work on Culture and Society in the Middle Ages, but the option was pulled a month before my final year. Embroidery - or even textiles - would not have featured in research back then, but I'm making up for it. It is now a rich mine of information and has led me unexpected places and conclusions . 

A friend sent me a clever and amusing article I had missed on the joys of knitting, Thanks Peter.

Meanwhile, my brother's vest has reached the arm holes. I am delighted to be now working the top in sections, knitting back and forth - no steeks! What a sensible pattern! 

I haven't progressed it as much as I hoped while waiting for my car, but I'm back on it between wrapping the balcony in plastic.

post 434 It's raining, it's pouring.....

I'm conscious as I write this of family members, friends and friends of friends who are ill and in the hands of doctors and nurses working long hours and applying all their skills to find answers and treatments. While I can't tell their stories, they put my week's trivia into perspective. I  hope their persistence prevails. I'm treasuring moments each day.

Much of the early part of my week was spent getting my blanket project set up and embroidering horses. I am slowly moving from the 'dapples and greys'. I've written about it in my embroidery blog.  It's a pleasant project to work at the moment, because it's cold. Although I keep the apartment heated, it's very cosy stitching the blanket spread over my legs. 25 horses to go.

In Adelaide the rain has kept on coming. There are dry spells in between, but even then it is mostly overcast and grey.  Some evenings the sun sets behind cloud and the light simply fades, but some nights there has been enough sky to provide a show. 

Early in the week some plants I had ordered from Melbourne Bushfood arrived - four native herbs and a couple of succulents. I was waiting for a couple of tiered containers I had ordered to plant them. These arrived on Saturday morning They were simple to assemble - quite natty. They are on wheels and pushing the wheels into their slots was the hardest bit - that just required a bit of strength.  

Netball is preventing Niamh from going to JEMS at the moment, so I had plenty of time to go shopping for Monday dinner items and then to the nursery for potting mix and more plants. 

It took a while in the rain, but I now have one on each balcony, bush plants facing West and flowers facing East - both wheeled to where they will get rain. I'm hoping most of the plastic will be covered with plant before too long.

Also on Saturday, I took possession of my Adelaide climate scarf by Sandy Lepore. Sandy is making a limited number of scarves of annual climate change to raise money to mount and tour the project. I'm privileged to have one- a wonderful talking point.  I've promised her a photo of me wearing it. 

On Sunday morning I had an email from the Heart Foundation promoting their Walk for Heart Health program. Out of curiosity I filled out their questionnaire and received a 6 week exercise plan based on my answers. The first week involves 3 x 20 minute walks, so, in a break in the rain, I walked for 20 minutes along Pulteney Street and around the Square. On the other side of the square there were 3 Adelaide rosellas having a fine feed in a street tree. They let me get quite close. The photos, taken on my phone, are  not the best - the phone doesn't too well on zoom.

They still give a sense of the size. I might just take my DSLR next time! I also noticed for the first time that the orange trees planted in the small front gardens of our apartments have fruit on them.

I'm still restricting my fruit intake, but I do hope someone picks and uses them.

There are lots of leaves about - and more apartment blocks going up on the opposite side of the Square.

The rain continues relentlessly. No one got wet getting here on Monday after school. One of the girls commented that our grey sky was her image of England until she learned it wasn't always like that (Midsomer Murders has a lot to answer for!). Two weeks of grey skies is unusual in Adelaide - but there's no sign of it clearing.

Yesterday I also visited Nordic Design Furniture and ordered two cabinets, one for storing family memorabilia and the other to replace a sewing cabinet that no longer fits comfortably in my living room. I've thought long and hard about these. The main game is to store items I have from my grandparents, my parents and a few from my late husband. I've debated whether to include document boxes, but in the end restricted it to realia to keep the size manageable. I want it to sit beside a sofa as an end table, replacing this trunk. The new one will have generational drawers and a glass top under which I can display an unfinished embroidery of my mother's.  Their current build time is 22-24 weeks

Today Panayoula and I met for coffee at Muratti Cakes and Gateaux on Prospect Road.  While we both resisted the cakes on offer, she brought me a gift of two sweets from her recent family celebrations. We cut our time short when she had a distress call from another friend.

There were plenty of people out and about along Prospect Rd, many with their dogs.

I detoured past Create in Stitch on the way home, getting back in time to eat the slice of lemon syrup cake above (delicious) before cleaning my teeth very thoroughly and heading out on foot to visit my periodontist down Pulteney St. This clocked up two more walks - 18 minutes one way and 14 the other, but quite a bit of waiting at lights. Don't think I can count these as one of my three! 

The sky was pretty gloomy to the East, but the sun struggled through over Calvary Hospital (a view to the Southwest this time, as opposed to the Northwestern one from my balcony).

Andre, my periodontist was very pleased with my teeth and dental hygiene - so I won't see him for a year (provided the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise). 

Before I set to work to finish the 25 horses on the blanket, I wanted to complete the design I started at the Guild's Certificate Course workshop a week ago. I finished it yesterday and am pleased with the result. The detail, as usual, is in my embroidery blog.

My shawl is progressing slowly. I put it aside for embroidery projects - but it is moving along.

I also finished a roll of paper towel this week, and the cardboard roll in the centre was a strong one - so I used it to make another roll to keep embroidery-in-progress. I have 3 of these, and they are really useful. I had a long Japanese fabric waiting for just this opportunity, so I took it.

So now it's back to where I started this week - amongst the horses.