Post 567 2025 is heating up.

It was very quiet on the street when I went for a walk around the block on New Year’s Day around 11.30am. The nearby cafes were closed. I didn’t go as far as Hutt St, where I’m sure there would be more activity. The yellow cube at the far end of our row is A Prayer for the Wild at Heart, packed up and closed for the next week.

I don’t often walk past the Box Factory(which is a Community Centre directly behind our apartments) unless I’m going to a meeting there. Today I noticed this prickly pear growing in their garden, a fine specimen to see from the opposite side of the road!

KimoYES, importers of Japanese fabric, both vintage and contemporary, had one of their periodic clearance sales. I have ignored these for a couple of years now. In the past I have used their remnants to make gift bags. More recently I have used cotton fabrics, mostly from the Guild trading table, and I still have a good supply of these. I had, however, recently realised I have very few silk bags in my current supply. There’s a place for their feel and interest, so I ordered a few remnant pieces, enough, I think,  for 18 medium sized bags at a cost of about $3.70 per bag. I had hoped to post a photo but they will no doubt arrive while we are at Carrickalinga this week and be waiting at the PO next Monday. 

After posting last week I received the admission forms for my upcoming hand surgery. When I read them, I was horrified to discover I was not only required to have someone pick me up after the surgery, which I had anticipated (a friend had offered) but to have ‘a carer’ there throughout the procedure and staying with me overnight. This seemed a considerable burden in January, as people were returning from leave, or preparing for a return to study. On Thursday I phoned the surgeon’s rooms, explained I couldn’t meet the requirement and requested a quick consultation to see if the finger was sufficiently healed to cancel surgery altogether. By a miracle I got a time that afternoon. He was sympathetic and helpful. The knuckle no longer held fluid. It wasn’t urgent. His advice was however, to do the surgery while the finger was in its current non-inflamed condition. We agreed to postpone. I promised to discuss a suitable date with my family.

The next day I raised it with Katherine when she called in unexpectedly. Her immediate response was that January is, in fact, a good time for her to take a day off work, and to stay overnight! After several reassurances, I phoned the clinic. They had not reassigned the booking and reinstated it . On Sunday I spent 2 hours filling out the online admission form, Katherine has organised our transport - surgery is back on! A tiny blister has appeared on the joint, but won't, I hope, deter the surgeon.

While that might have been Much Ado About Nothing, Sunday, 5 January, was Twelfth Night, Epiphany, and the day for removing Christmas decorations. It was also my parents’ wedding anniversary. My mother was meticulous about adhering to tradition, so, in addition to filling out hospital forms, I removed Christmas decorations, put them away in their red box, reread all my Christmas cards and updated my Christmas card address records. The tree I bought is not looking too healthy. Along the stem, the needles are dry and brown.I’ve watered it as instructed, but it’s dropping needles. 🙏

On Saturday I had a phone call from my neighbour around 9.30am, to say the lift was out of order again, and the service company had been called. I had intended to go for an early walk, before the temperature reached its predicted 38C but decided against it. The lift was fixed around midday, well in time for me to go to family dinner. 

Meantime, I had a strange visitor.  It looked like a relative of one of the birds I had seen in the Square last week. It is a Rock Dove, a feral form of Columbidae, the common pigeon. This one stood stationary on my balcony for a couple of hours, moving to a slightly different position about every ten minutes.  It initially had an inflated neck, but that was less noticeable over time. I didn’t see it leave, and it hasn’t been back. It left behind quite a few droppings, unusual for birds on my balcony. Perhaps a form of heat stress? 

 

I've also been ticking off a few small jobs. One was testing the pouch I bought to hold my car keys while swimming. I wore it in the shower with a pen inside. The pouch got thoroughly wet, but the pen remained completely dry, so it's ready for the beach! 

I also posted an account of this Christmas embroidery to my embroidery blog

Sunday's sunset caught my eye, drawing me away from the repeat of Donaldson and Dodd.

While it can't compete with the Aurora Australis that was visible that night along the coast, it was beautiful and enhanced by the arrival of the bats for their nightly feed in the Moreton Bay Fig tree.   

Once again, the Catholic Cathedral sent its message in lights, dwarfed but not extinguished by the surrounding reflections of commerce.

Today I began packing for Carrickalinga, first deciding what embroidery and knitting to take, then the swimming gear, including sun and insect lotions, followed by clothes and a trip to the supermarket for the basic supplies we will need to get us going. I pick up my daughter and son-in-law from the airport tomorrow afternoon and drive straight there. We’ll be too late for regular shops. A big part of my preparation, of course, was clearing the boot of my car. That involved trips to the Salvos, to the bin and to the Guild. I’m just about there. I can finish packing in the morning before a thorough soaking of my plants. I’ve saved a few empty milk and soda bottles to upend full of water in a few pots. I'm only away 4 days but that’s enough to kill a few plants when it’s over 34C each day. 

Yesterday I finished Aquile . The account is in my embroidery blog. It’s far from perfect, but I’m satisfied. I’m taking knitting, an evil eye embroidery and the tassel knots for Aquile  to Carrickalinga. I can knot and socialise, so that’s my predicted winner but I’m not putting money on it.

I'll report next week!

Post 565 A Christmas Indulgence

I began this chronologically at the beginning of the week but reorganised it on Sunday after I spent just over an hour  exploring  Chihuly in the Botanic Gardens, a series of glass installations by Dale Chihuly with a Jam Factory retail outlet.  They were so stunning I have lengthened this post to include them. Feel free to skip any or all.

The first photo was taken in the Bicentennial Conservatory (the building in the second photo). 

The next two photos are installations in the open park. During the day visitors can wander around for free. I didn’t cover the whole park, but will return another day. It’s there until late April. At night the installations are illuminated and access is ticketed.

Coming in from the Eastern carpark, the first installation I saw was the floating balls. A small child in a stroller was yelling bubble, bubble and pointing, an excitement I saw repeated several times by various children at various works. 

The gardens are lovely anyway, but these create marvellous reflections and a sense of both the unexpected, and appropriateness. There is a wow factor, but also of yes, of course. 

There is an entry fee ($14) to the  Conservatory where the remainder of my photos were taken. Here you can get close and also view from all angles. I loved it. There are plenty of explanations and video stations, but I preferred to just take in the glass. I’d had to talk myself into making the effort on Sunday morning. So glad I did.

It was a good day for it, only 25C. The conservatory closes early when the temperature is over 36C and doesn’t open at all when it’s forecast to be 40C. Even at 25C it’s pretty warm inside. I took a lot more photos, but these are my  picks. I will  venture back again on another coolish Sunday and cover what I missed, maybe with a friend.

Like the Radical Textiles exhibition, it will be a major drawcard during the Adelaide Festival in Feb/March. Not to be missed if you are here.

Returning to Wednesday, I almost missed my six monthly car service . As I pay for one service I usually book the next, but it seems I forgot last time. Fortunately I checked my diary and managed to get a booking for last Wednesday only a few weeks into the seventh month. As usual, I stayed for the 3 hours it took for 2 mechanics to complete the service and wash the car. I took my Aquile embroidery, my knitting and my Kobo (I wouldn’t want to run out of things to do). Another woman waiting came over to ask what I was doing. She learned dressmaking from her mother, who learned it from her mother in India. We had a discussion about sewing machines, knitting and learning.

I wasn’t at home to receive the delivery of the alpaca yarn I ordered a couple of weeks ago, so collected it from the Post Office on my way home. This is from one animal, Casper. It is a beautiful dark brown.  I’m looking forward to mixing it with the alpaca I have left  from previous projects. I haven't put it away yet: it is so lovely to look at.

I also tried to visit the Haigh's Chocolate outlet on Greenhill Road, but there are road works happening on their side road. Their carpark was full and no road parking, so I couldn't stop.

The Rita Maria Faleri Aquile is quite challenging. I undid two eagle tails while waiting for the car. I had hoped to live with the mistakes, but decided to adjust. The small sections are especially tricky. The thread is thick, and although the loose weave means holes are easy to see, it is worked in hand, and the threads move around. 

Thursday was the last Pilates class for the year. I managed to return Paul's book on Mitochondria. He, Heather and I had a lovely focused class, much cooler in the studio than outside. I had intended to have lunch at Queen St, but it was crowded, no parking and the kitchen had probably closed anyway, so I went home. 

Friday was my Crown installation - an easier process than the preparation a week ago. Clemmie explained why she hadn't used 3d printing for this. As I suspected, the older method can achieve subtleties 3d can't, and we were altering the shape of the tooth to reduce the gap between it and the next one, to help with cleaning.  She adjusted my mouthguard as a stopgap, but I have an appointment to make a new one. 

I had chosen bags for Clemmie (bluebird of happiness) and her assistant (Clementine Ford is a bit of a hero of both). Both seemed to delight, so I am very happy. I will miss Clemmie - but she will do well wherever she is, and so will her child. 

This time there was no waiting time to eat or drink. I came home via Haigh's chocolate outlet again and this time they had staff directing people to spaces in between the cement trucks and workers' vans on the side street. I managed to buy my supply of Christmas chocolate, and then stock up on groceries and alcohol-removed drink at Unley. Most of the washing I hung out around 2.30pm was dry by 6pm.

I spent an hour or so catching up with my brother on the phone. Our mother would have been 99 on Saturday. He visited her grave and took frangipani - from his potted tree grown from her enormous one where we grew up, and which provided my wedding bouquet. 

 I wore the mourning locket with the hair she was so proud of.  It seems a strangely Victorian concept. Collecting it when she died was really important to my father. I rarely wear it but it seemed important this year. 

Each day brought physical Christmas cards or letters, newsy email messages from friends and family, virtual cards and a phone call or two. I really look forward to catching up (such an evocative phrase!) but inevitably there is a sprinkling of sadness. 

The wife of a second cousin (with whom I had done a lot of family history research) died two weeks ago. There is a lot of infirmity. The joy, however, of ‘catching up’ (like today’s newsy email from friend Christine) lifts me up.

On request I took a bag of my remaining gift bags on Saturday night, where there was a lot of bag making activity happening, along with work calls, cooking, planning, eating and crosswords.

On Sunday afternoon, after Chihuly, I made gingerbread, interrupted by a long Christmas phone call. 

I thought I had checked ingredients before shopping on Friday, but I missed butter. I had 4/5 of what I needed, so topped up with margarine. I had intended to try icing them with white chocolate but, as usual, decided they don’t need icing (besides being too irregular in shape to ice easily!). The lighter ones are rolled thinner and more prone to burning, so I took them out sooner. As well as the smell of Christmas, they taste  delicious.  I tried several to make sure.

I did my final food shop yesterday. Every year I avoid Christmas Eve shopping, and every year as I manoeuvre my trolley around the crowd, I remember that everyone else thinks the same. I went with a list of 6 things and came home with two heavy bags and a box of drinks. I collared the last Pandoro in the Frewville supermarket!

Today I had a haircut in the middle of the day, travelling to the hairdresser on the city loop bus. I didn’t venture into the Markets, but it didn’t look crowded. This was the Market’s Santa seen from the bus. 

A Prayer for the Wild at Heart was still serving lunch when I got off the bus, so I indulged.  They are open, except on Public holidays, until New Year’s Eve, then closed for 2 weeks so I enjoyed the pleasant breeze, 27C and slightly changed menu.

My parcel arrived in Canberra, my packages are ready to take to lunch tomorrow (might need a small sleigh) and my candles are lit.

In the words of Tiny Tim, God Bless us, every one.