Post 604

This week's high point was last night's family birthday dinner - on the 18th birthday of Niamh and Veronica. Because it was a schoolday, with one working after school, and the other having a dental appointment, I was privileged to provide dinner.

I made what I call Bread and What You Can Get, and the girls call a Feast.  This time there was a Pastitsio Makaronia Me Feta, known colloquially as Pasta Pie, a favourite of Veronika's which I don't make often these days because of the carbs (macaroni, eggs, butter, 3 cheeses cooked in filo pastry), a plate of mixed party pies, pasties, sausage rolls & spanakopita, 4 salads, two  kinds of bread and, a favourite of Niamh's, Beijing duck cut into pieces. I bought the last when the shop, near the Central Market, opened at 11.00am.The duck was still warm. iI had bought and planned on some salami and leg ham as well, but decided at the last minute that no one would eat it. That was the right decision. 

No one chose to drink alcohol, so the girls enjoyed their water from the cocktail glasses Katherine and Alison bought for Jim and I on a wedding anniversary. They now rarely get an outing. 

Katherine made two very chocolatey cakes, we sang Happy Birthday, ate cake then gave presents. I was too caught up to take photos. It was a grand evening.

Appropriately,  it was also the Spring Equinox. I didn't venture up to take a photo at 4.19am. My balcony flowers, however, put on a show to mark the rite of passage. I am so grateful to be alive and included.

On Saturday morning I was privileged to accompany Katherine to a talk by Julia Baird, entitled Hope, Awe and Grace, based on her latest book, published in 2023. The talk was followed by a Q&A session chaired by Bishop Sophie. Julia proved to be a skilled and inspiring speaker. I had a copy of the book, which I hadn't got around to reading.

I began rectifying that as soon as I got home. Her  explanation of Grace really resonated. It not only got the little grey cells working, but gave me a light bulb moment in relation to the Evil Eye, sending me back to my PowerPoint presentation to make changes and showing me the way to the related project for the Certificate Course next year. I'm not going to bore anyone with detail here, but if you are interested in grace, or forgiveness, read the book! 

I contacted the carpenter about my extraction fan cupboard modification, but haven't heard back yet. I also plucked up courage to visit B&O on Friday, to begin investigating  a TV replacement. The service exceeded my expectations. Richard, their tech assistant, is now visiting me on Thursday morning to assess my current TV to see if it can be tuned or adjusted to improve reception.. There is no charge for this service. After that we can discuss options for replacement. They understand I may not want to stay at this high end of the market - which will mean going elsewhere. There was no pressure. 

In my time at home, between preparing food, reading Julia's book, housekeeping and watering the garden, I have wound quite a lot of yarn. On the sixth of the seven skeins of Spritz I worked out it was far more efficient to place the swift on the table, at the same horizontal level as my hands, rather than on the floor..  

As the table was going to be in use on Monday, I made the most of the weekend, and wound several other skeins I had stashed away. I wound two more after taking the photo, then packed it away with another project that will need it. 

I have identified patterns for each wound ball and stored them with a note of the pattern and where to find it. I haven't yet wound the variegated silk, largely because I am not sure what I will do with it.

I also ordered more of the Spritz, details of my reasoning are in my embroidery blog.

Today I have hung out two loads of washing, washed up from last night, welcomed the cleaners and had my haircut. I'm a bit tired, but content, relaxed and counting my blessings as I sit inside, on the cold and grey day, gazing at the flowers I bought yesterday and preparing to watch Antiques Roadshow, with a bowl of Greek salad and a couple of party sausage rolls.

Post 568 A Birthday to remember!

On Wednesday, after a morning of packing the car, drenching the plants and closing the curtains, I picked family up from the airport, before heading. straight to Carrickalinga. There was an accident on the expressway that delayed us for some 15 minutes, but otherwise we made good progress.

We had a holiday rental on the beach. We've stayed there before. It's a very 1970s Aframe, with a  master bedroom and ensuite on a mezzanine, accessed by a spiral staircase, with living area below, both overlooking the beach. Through the door at the back is a rumpus-room setup, bathroom/laundry and a bunk bedroom. The house is currently For Sale. 

The other family holiday rental is a 15 minute walk up the hill and has spectacular sunset views. They cooked a BBQ dinner for our arrival.

I had a good, and very lazy, four days. I didn't have a swim. The rest of the family gathered early in the morning and in the evening to swim (far too hot to swim in the middle of the day: we are neither mad dogs nor English).  The day temperature fluctuated around 25-28C, a good 5-7 degrees cooler than Adelaide.

Our Strata requests we turn the water off in our apartment when we go away, so I had done this as I left. The taps, both hot and cold, are situated in a cupboard in the lift foyer on each floor. Mine are behind a downpipe, not easy to get to.  As I turned the stop-cocks off, the hot water meter fell off on to the floor of the cupboard. The round meter, on the left, should be on the round dial on the right.  I didn't have time to deal with it before going to the airport, so reported it the next day. This resulted in several phone calls on Thursday, and my neighbour giving a plumber access to the cupboard. On my return on Sunday, the dial was as I've left it. I'm assuming the plumber is trying to source a replacement. To my relief, and as the plumber predicted, once I reopened the stopcock, the hot water supply is unaffected.

 

Sunday was my birthday. We had dinner at the Normanville Surf Club on Saturday - an excellent, relaxed meal with lovely views and attentive service. The Canberra visitors were flying home on Sunday afternoon, so we packed up our house by 10am and imposed ourselves on the rest of the family for brunch before heading back to Adelaide at 1.30pm.

I didn't manage to photograph the piles of bacon and eggs Fionn cooked on the BBQ, nor the haloumi Brigid cooked, nor the numerous mocktails made by Niamh and Veronica, but the fruit and cheese convey the idea.

I was, in the words of Fionn, showered with presents. 

This is some of them. Two are really enticing kits, one Japanese fabric to make into a bag in any way you like, and the other a very inviting cross stitch mat on Nordic style. 

Veronica's very cheeky earrings consist of working pencils (!) and silver bird claws made by an artist who is also a taxidermist. These, I think, will provide a better signal than an evil eye amulet. I can't think of a clearer way to say Do not mess with me! I shall use them accordingly.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time for what was, unfortunately, a fairly turbulent trip back to Canberra. 

Back at my place, the plants had survived well. I had clearly overlooked the Christmas poinsettia in my pre-holiday watering frenzy. It looked sad, but has revived with water. I unpacked food and immediate needs, had an 80 minute phone conversation with my brother and numerous messages from friends to round off the day.

On Monday I set about finding places for my presents. Brigid had given me a hanging bird with a crystal, which needed a spot where the bird colours could be seen and the crystal wouldn't set anything alight by focusing the sun. I tried suspending it in the fly screen of the balcony door, but the colours are lost in the light. The Japanese women enjoyed holding it above the bookcase, 

but in the end it hangs nicely from the converted oil lamp.

Fionn's bird is taking longer, because the solder gave way at the base and I am trying to find a fix. I don't solder, and I’m out of superglue. Trip to hardware shop tomorrow.

Niamh's pin cushion demanded white or yellow pins, requiring a trip to Create in Stitch. It looks fantastic. All I need to do is to put the same pins back as I use them.

My next task was the fabric Alison and Karl gave me. It is woven in Harran, Turkey and purchased in a market town.  There are 3 metres of it and it deserves a proper dress. The dressmakers I know are retired or semi-retired. I could be a nuisance and call in a favour. Once I could have tackled it myself, but not now. After a bit of searching I found a dressmaking business just over a mile away on Unley Road, so took the fabric there straight away.

They were amenable, but needed me to supply the lining fabric.

I was headed to Create in Stitch for the pins, so thought I'd ask there before heading to Spotlight. Simela found me a fine cotton in a cream colour, which works well. I went straight back to the dressmaker, and have ordered a very simple, A line, long dress. I have a fitting on 31 January. 

While I was away my neighbour had taken in a parcel on my behalf.  This turned out to be a birthday gift from my friend Vivienne, who has knitted me two hats! They fit nicely and will come in handy in winter. The other component is ingenious, two clip-on earrings, joined by a chain, to form a shawl clip! Another useful winter accessory.

Fionn got it right - showered with gifts!

My prediction about which project I would progress while away was well off the mark. I began the Evil Eye protection embroidery and just kept going. I really loved doing it. I finished it early on Saturday. When I got home on Sunday I mounted it in the display hoop and on Monday found backing fabric. Detail in my embroidery blog.

I managed a few knots for the tassels, but nowhere near enough. I’ve almost managed one tassel, rolling some of the linen trimming into a round and covering with needle lace to form the head. It’s slow work. 

This morning I composed a final, rounding-off sentence for this post, before discovering that my storage locker had been broken into during a Sunday night car-park break in. My locker is about 75cm wide and 1.5 metres deep. There are storage boxes at the back and a 1.8 x1.8 metre trolley in front. The trolley is quite hard to move. The photo on the left is face-on to the locker gate. The large cardboard box sits on top of the trolley that has to be manoeuvred out when the gate is open, to access the boxes piled beyond.

The intruders cut, not the lock, but the metal the lock goes through. They must have pulled the trolley out, removed 2 boxes behind the trolley, replaced the trolley and arranged the door to appear locked! They took 2 boxes,  marked Personal Treasures and Treasures from Asia respectively, into the street and abandoned them, opened. A box of diaries was opened and some diaries, I think, are missing, as are the remaining 8-10 copies of Conversations with Baby Boomer Teachers that I self-published.  With the help of neighbours, the rest is back. The weirdest thing is that the intruders put the locker back together. It’s not easy to do. They could not possibly have been searching for diaries (could they?)! There is a lot of Strata security activity. We had CCTV installed late last year. I haven’t asked yet if it picked up anything.

I had written this morning that it has been a good week and thanked everyone who sent messages. Today’s discovery has not altered that. Yah Boo Sucks to intruders. At the end of the day, it's just stuff. If I ever meet them, I shall thank them for being tidy. I hope, however, I'm wearing Veronica's earrings! 

I really appreciate the connection, support and love shown to me this week. I may not have swum, but I feel afloat. One nice touch is that while we were at Carrickalinga, Fionn asked what happened to a boomerang we had above a door in our Hindmarsh house. I didn't know. Turns out, it was in the box of treasures found abandoned in the street. It did indeed come back!

Post 414 Birthday Celebrations.

This week began with my birthday celebrations. I'm truly grateful to my daughters for ensuring we were together for this auspicious birthday. Birthdays themselves have never really been great events to me. Early January in Australia is when most people are away and difficult to get together. In recent years we have managed to gather at the beach but it wasn't possible last year and only possible this year through the grit and determination of my daughters. Alison especially had to make sacrifices, detailed plans and endless adjustments and inconveniences to come from Canberra. 

She also took this and several other photos, for which I am grateful.

As you can see, I broke out and had a lime milkshake!

My habit of asking a waitress to take a photo of us all at the lunch table at the Normanville Jetty Cafe did not pay off this time. The photo isn't a good one, and I agreed not to use it. 

We therefore have two photos, one taken by Alison and one by Karl, so everyone gets in. I haven't attempted to meld them into one.

After lunch we repaired to one of the holiday rentals for candles and cake - not together. The apples that were blown upon have not been eaten but the icecream cake disappearing. I didn't indulge. 

I was given some really lovely gifts, all so carefully chosen: the SA-made, Celtic style brooch from Brigid (top left), the Canberra-made and designed one from Alison and Karl,(lower right), a necklace from Katherine and Alison, an amazing locally made paperweight from Fionn, a Normanville made clove scented leopard trivet from Veronica (it emits the scent when heated by a dish!). Niamh always makes me a pin-cushion (a much needed continual reminder not to put my pins and needles into the arm of the lounge chair). This year's is a book - cleverly designed and made by Niamh. While it is puffy and solid, pins will not get lost in it. The thickness and shape prevents that happening. It is great. I should have placed all these on the tray cloth my friend Vivienne made for me, but didn't think until too late!

It was a really lovely day. There were also lots of messages from friends. Carrickalinga phone reception is still terrible, but sms and online messages get through. I am really grateful. It was my kind of day. I hadn't thought much about reaching 75 but it now does seem a bit of a milestone - one that Jim knew he was unlikely to reach, and that my mother missed by 9 years in spite of expectations of longevity. I am very, very blessed, and will try to make the most of every day.

On Thursday we were up early to pack so that Alison and Karl could return to Canberra. Their afternoon flight had been brought forward to 9.30am and it's a 90 minute drive to the airport. Sad to say goodbye, but so fabulous to have had the time. I returned the key to the Agent before 10am, then took this photo along the road on my way back. I moved in with Katherine and her family at their holiday rental up on the hill - another blessing. 

On Friday we went into Yankalilla to get a few supplies. Katherine and I visited the Second Hand & Book Exchange. Katherine found the doilies she was looking for. I was looking for Amanda, who runs the shop and was at one stage an active SA Embroiderers' Guild member but she wasn't there. However, I did find some books that I couldn't resist.

None of them are specifically on embroidery or textiles, but they do have significant relevance. I've finished the Viking one, which has proved really useful and dipped into the others. 

I've now done as much as I can without a sewing machine on the Hearts and Roses bag. Once I stitch each of the six outside pieces to their six inside lining pieces there's another round of hand stitching to join the six together. A job for next week.

The weather has cooled down - mostly in the low to mid 20sC. I have no regrets, but I think, although it hasn't stopped them swimming, everyone else would prefer it a bit warmer.

The kangaroos have moved somewhere else for their evening graze in the last few days, or maybe they don't like the cooler evenings. 

On Sunday the paddock was taken over by a flock of galahs, their screeching silenced while they fed. I regretted not bringing my DSLR.  The photo taken with my iPad is live, which improves it, but inserted here they look like stones.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         They were easier to photograph as they flew away! 

By Monday morning they were feeding on the road verge! Presumably they have stripped the paddock of whatever it is they like.

Carrickalinga turned on a smashing sunset for our last night.

I've started on the Marie Wallin Fair Isle Bag I bought as a kit last September.  I brought the kit with me, but forgot to add the needles! Katherine managed to find some for me in Normanville. 

It is proving difficult. I knitted the first section, which is half the base, without realising the whole bag is knitted in garter stitch, not stocking stitch. I swapped over when I started on the wider section, which is the front. 

It is intuitive, and much easier, to work purl rows on the wrong side, otherwise you spend a lot of time moving your working and resting threads from one side to another to avoid carrying thread across the right side. 

The pattern also shows up more crisply in stocking stitch. Since arriving home I've worked the next section in stocking stitch and I'm much happier. I will continue in this mode.

Before we left on Monday, there were some moments where it is obvious why so many artists have painted this part of the SA coast. The light was lovely and the cliff line clear.  I even managed to catch a couple of birds in flight.

I arrived home to find the wind had upset the pot of on my back balcony, and also blown over the container of seed for the birds. The lid was nowhere to be found - no doubt acted as a frisby over the nearby roofs. The spilt seed had not, as far as I could see, been found by birds. Perhaps they were waiting for me to return, because within minutes one dove appeared, ignored the spilt seed, and attempted to get the seed remaining in the container, which I had righted. The dove had several attempts to get to the seed, but couldn't manage the balancing act without upsetting the container, gave up and retreating to the spilt seed. I did oblige by tipping out the seed left in the container!

Today I made two forays into the outside world, one to Ecolateral at Magill to pick up the two things I ordered online in their New Year sale. While I was in that side of town I called at Heyne's Nursery to replenish a few plants. I bought a red Aloha Mandevilla,  The pink one on my Eastern balcony has done so well, I thought I'd try another in the West. I also bought another bowl-shaped pot and some white geraniums to put in it. I dropped these at home, then went out again to Unley to get fresh milk, fruit and vegetables. 

The two trips, a bit of washing and watering took all the energy I had today. I read a fair bit of the Bruce Beckham Inspector Skelgill book I had been saving. Late in the day I did manage to find and purchase some pdf versions of a series of books on goddess embroidery by Mary Kelly. That should keep me busy for a few weeks - once I've read the Celtic book above!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and messages. It's been an awesome week! 

I did, incidentally, maintain my weight loss program. 18.6 kg down now. Thanks for all the help and support.  

Post 354 Milestones

 This morning's big news was from my friend Pat Manser. Her project of last five years has come to fruition. Pat worked on the original research team established by Arthur Delbridge to scope and plan an Australian dictionary. She has been passionate about the need to tell the story. It will be released in eBook format next Tuesday and after that in hardback. I've ordered my Kindle copy to be delivered next Tuesday.

It's a story worth telling, and important in the history of Australian culture - the way we see and think about ourselves. All credit to Pat for persisting in bringing it to publication. 

I'm looking forward to reading it next week.

Most of my day was spent preparing for tonight's birthday dinner. I made a trip to Rheinland Bakery on Port Rd. I'd been planning to order a Dobosch cake last week, but realised Niamh and Veronica would not be able to eat it with the bands on their teeth. When I discussed it with them on the weekend, they were adamant that they could remove the toffee triangles and eat the cake. By then the shop was closed for the weekend. I rang them at 8am this morning but they did not have one in stock today. I went to the shop later in the morning and bought a chocolate mouse cake with chocolate shards around the outside. On the suggestion of the shop assistant I added some strawberries.

I'm not good at taking photos when on a mission, as I was today. The pastitsio me phyllo (or pasta pie to the kids) worked well.  I also cooked some chicken Marylands for Fionn, whose athletic diet doesn't allow for large serves of pasta, pastry and cheeses. 

At the moment blowing out candles over a cake that is going to be shared is not a safe  or recommended thing to do. I came up with a sacrificial hot cross bun and stuck two candles , a 1 and an 8 in them for the blowing out. I then discarded the bun and candles.  Improvisation.  Another new normal?

Brigid's birthday is not until Wednesday, but Niamh and Veronica have to go on a school camp that day, and Brigid has to help supervise an orienteering excursion.

We gave her her presents after dinner. I reckon she had a good time. I certainly did! 

I'm also conscious of those who would love to have seen this day - Jim, who was acutely aware he would not be likely to see it, my father, who lived to meet Brigid and my mother who didn't but would be so full of joy and admiration. I'm not sad about this today - more alert to their ongoing contribution.

I'm getting quicker at photographing some of the birds coming home to roost at sunset.

Yes, this in a bird, not a plane. The proportional size is a function of the zoom

I managed a little bit of the Owl Service. I reckon there's about another 3 hours of stitching to finish it. Then comes the lettering - perhaps the hardest bit.

The forecast for the next few days is 33C, 36C, 37C, 34C before dropping to 25C.  I'm hoping for not too much noise from the building work, effective aircon and time to finish stitching this.