Post 564 The temperature feels a lot like Christmas

We had an enjoyable WES meeting on Wednesday, 12 of us sitting around a table spread with food and sharing what we are currently working on (or not, in a couple of cases where family illness is requiring full attention). Colleen brought along a folio of samples given to her by a batik master, showing all the stages of batik preparation. A real treasure. Colleen has an exhibition of textiles opening next Friday at the Fabrik Gallery Lobethal.

Glenys brought a mystery object. The base is hollow, a receptacle of some kind. The remaining three sections all come off separately, but are each like a lid with no connection holes for incense or insertion. There was a lot of speculation, but no concrete suggestions.

On Thursday I saw the hand therapist who brought in a surgeon to look at my myxoid cyst. We all agreed it needed operating on. We found a mutually possible day in late January but I needed a referral from my GP., whose practice wouldn’t facilitate it without my seeing him, but managed to fit me in the next day. Fortunately, I had done all the right things to avoid infection, and need to continue being careful.                                                                                                       Friday, therefore, was spent in a GP visit, followed by 95 minutes with my mouth open in the dentist chair, preparing a molar for a crown. A tedious process, but competently and carefully done. I now have a temporary crown, with the permanent one to be fitted next Friday. It seems that an hour after seeing me last week my dentist had a cancellation and I was in the front of her mind. I was very pleased to be able to make myself a coffee at 5pm, by which time the anaesthetic had worn off and the no food/drink period had passed.!  The practice rang on Saturday morning to check that I was OK. Great service.                                                                                                                    

While I’ve been working on the Rita Maria Faleri birds, a spider has been working her magic on my back balcony. I love the pattern and pictures created by these webs. Unlike me, the spider doesn't need a book (for size indication, the book is a little larger than A4).
                                                                  

I woke around 4.30am on Saturday, registered that it was time for the asteroid shower, but could tell from my bed there was too much light around to see it, so went back to sleep. I was, however, up in time to hear laughter coming from the Square.  It emanated  from this group exercising. A great early morning sound.

I spent the rest of the day at home, mostly playing with colouring a cotton bag, incorporating a couple of experiments I’ve been  wanting to try. 

It’s approaching pomegranate season and Katherine's tree is doing nicely. Such attractive fruit to welcome Veronica home from her adventure in Cambodia and Laos.

I was looking forward to the last Adelaide Chamber Singers subscription concert for the year, Resound at the Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. Although it was forecast to be 41C , I still thought I’d go. The cathedral relies on a couple of large fans at the back for cooling and the concert was one hour, with some audience singing. By the time I had watered my balcony plants I was wavering.

At 12.15 it was 38C and I saw sense. I’ve been at concerts before at the cathedral when people have had to leave because of the heat. There is also minimal shade for parking and while I love singing, the thought of the impact of all that breath in the already hot air cathedral decided me. I microwaved a couple of scones I bought on Friday, made a coffee, closed the blinds and turned on the aircon. A pity, but a no-brainer.  I read Eileen Thornton’s A Mystery in Tyneside and finished the experimental bag, 

which I shall probable give to a charity for food distribution. It's interesting and useful, but of limited success.

The heat continued with 38C on Monday and has brought the mandevilla back into bloom. I've also moved the almanda that was attacked by the blackbird back to the eastern balcony. It is struggling, and won't, I think, survive the heat on the western one. I have hidden it behind other plants in the hope the blackbird doesn't find it.

I made a quick trip to Dymocks at Unley to pick up a copy of the 2025 Guide to the Southern Hemisphere Night Sky, then get some supplies and home by 11 to bunker down and read.  I get very tired in the heat. I thought the sky guide would be useful, especially at Carrickalinga in January. Carrickalinga has met the requirements to become Australia's first International Dark Sky Community. 

There was no dark sky here in Adelaide when I went to bed last night at 11pm,  24 hours after the full moon. It would have been a good night for an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

 I nearly put myself to sleep in the afternoon trying to read The Serpent and the Goddess which has been on my pile far too long. Very small print and lots of dense, detailed prose has put me off, but the central claim, that ancient serpent creation mythology largely either assigned or incorporated female involvement in creation but was usurped over time by patriarchal structures, is an interesting one. 

Around 6pm yesterday there was a courier delivery, this time the fascinating, populist, well-illustrated history of sail making in the UK town of Coker, the birthplace of William Dampier and T. S. Eliot. Its supremacy in sailmaking, it seems, was down to its unique process of ‘bucking’. This is easy to read, and will be of interest to WES Group.

Today the temperature dropped to 26C.  I got a lovely breeze through the apartment in preparation for cleaning. It won't last, but the 30-33C forecast for the next week is a lot better than 41.  Tomorrow my car is being serviced, and Friday will be taken up with the Crown fitting, both in airconditioned premises. The current forecast for Christmas day is 34C, so definitely no robins, snow or sleigh bells. I'm delighted, however, to have messages from friends via card, email, messenger and sms, and after significant delay from a cancelled plane, Veronica is home from the school trip to Cambodia. So deo gratias.

I think my Christmas shopping is finished.  I might make gingerbread for the Summer solstice. 

Post 561 Plant material in various forms

The bougainvillea at the Pilates studio was at its best last Thursday, spilling over into the street. The road was marked out to be dug up yesterday, so parking will be difficult next week. I've used it as an excuse to cancel, so I can have lunch with a friend's son, working in Adelaide.

On Friday I dashed out to shop before logging into the funeral of a family member in Sydney. It was good to be stitching with a friend in the afternoon.

I opted for the last Certificate Course workshop of the year on Saturday, Cut Work with Carol Stacey. Carol has done a lot of cutwork and her notes are excellent. I have done a little cutwork but it was good to have the information about threads and styles. I enjoyed working bars and being part of the group, catching up with those who were there. 

When I got home, I found the Yukka I had brought in a pot from my Hindmarsh home, had collapsed across the Western balcony. The main stem had died long ago, with a strong pup taking over, in addition to the others now thriving in several other pots.

I had used the strong dead stem to hang pots and a driftwood mobile, given to me by Fionn. The weight had finally snapped it off at the base.

I spent the afternoon cleaning up the balcony, sorting out the containers of useful things on the table behind the Yukka - empty pots, insect repellant, fertilisers bottles and containers - repotting a couple of things and disposing of a couple of others, along with things that have not yet come in handy.

It was hot and muggy, so I stopped a couple of times for ice-blocks and finished by sweeping up, visiting the various rubbish bins and watering. 

The dead stem is light, but I don't have tools to cut it up, and I can't dispose of it in one piece, so took it with me on Sunday for help in cutting it up. Fionn is taking care of it for me.🙏🏼

I am delighted to see a couple of signs of life in the Almanda rescued from the blackbird. I thought I had lost it but keeping it flooded with water seems to have done the trick. Hopefully it will be back to its former glory in a month or two if I keep up the water out of sight of the birds.

I'm also  pleased to report I finished the vegetable bag. Details in my embroidery blog. I also worked a smallish Christmas present that I’ll report on later.

From the same greengrocer where I will mostly put the bag to use, I bought a small Christmas tree this week.  Since being in the apartment I haven’t tried a real conifer. This one looks promising so I’m giving it a go. As yet no decorations. Another week and I’ll work that out.

A lovely Sunday afternoon with family before Veronica was scheduled to fly to Cambodia very early on Monday. It included a phone-in with Alison for her birthday. Altogether the highlight of the week. Back at home I cleared all my plants and curtain from my windows ready for the window cleaner who arrived just after 8am on Monday morning.

By 9.30 my windows were clean. By 11.30 my Christmas cards had arrived and I headed out to pick up bread for dinner and a mug from the Jam Factory (bought with my member’s discount over the weekend). The mug was a bit larger than I had envisaged, but fits neatly under the new coffee machine, so all good. It has the maker (Hannah Varrath-Pajak)’s thumb imprints, and is lovely to hold. 

When students and their families arrived at the airport at 4.30am yesterday, it turned out that their 6.15am flight to Melbourne, to connect to a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, had been cancelled. With some heavy intervention by teachers supervising the 21 schoolgirls, they were transferred to another flight and airline and were on their way by 7.30am. Apparently many Melbourne runways had been closed because of weather. They are travelling without much electronic communication but we do know they reached their destination safely. 

The rest of us gathered for an easy dinner of vegetables, potatoes and pies from the Dulwich Bakery. Most of the family had been at the airport at 4.30am to get Veronica checked in and see her off, so it wasn’t a late night! 

The yucca has recovered but is not yet up to holding a driftwood mobile which is marking time on a wall.

Niamh and I met up again this morning for lunch and milkshakes at Queen St Cafe. I had to divert around several streets to avoid the road closure referred to above. It was good to catch up in a relaxed setting. I enjoyed but couldn’t finish my pork and fennel sausage omelet. I'm now used to eating much later.

On the way home I picked up a couple of parcels, one a Christmas game, the other some new swimming gear, including a water safe bag that I’m hoping will allow me to swim with a car key on my person.🤞🏼

I’ve now started the Very, Very Berry embroidery for the lid of one of the tea boxes. It’s Anna Scott’s design. 

I'm following the stitching instructions but have backed the fabric with cheese cloth for strength and added a strip to the bottom to fit it into a ten-inch, rather than 8" hoop in order to have the whole design visible. 

I’m finding it a joy to doing crewel work again.