Post618 A few challenges, much community and joy.

 

I picked up the dress from the Post Office on Christmas Eve after a message saying it couldn’t be delivered. I assumed  the driver hadn’t bothered stopping. Then our Strata Rep discovered her buzzer was not working. It seems that while the reboot last week fixed my ability to provide entry, it did not fix the buzzer itself. All my complaints about delivery service were unwarranted - the buzzer system for our whole pod is out of action, and had probably been so for a week before Christmas! The company that services it is closed until sometime in January. Fortunately, the urgency of parcel delivery is  now over. Visitors need to phone for me to let them in.

The dress, described online as linen and cotton turns out to be fabric linen, trim cotton, meaning that, apart from the thin green binding along the front edge, the dress is linen. I would not have bought it had I known that. As much as I like linen, I do not like ironing. However, it proved fortuitous. After wearing it all Christmas Day, including driving in it (the critical test in my experience), it was barely crushed.      

I went to bed at 9.30pm on Christmas Day, waking a couple of times, but sleeping for at least 10 hours.

It had been a lovely, and not very strenuous day, mostly sitting around, inside and outside with one daughter’s family, while gifts were exchanged and opened, stories were told (or, mostly, retold) and food consumed, followed by a joyful phone catchup with my other daughter. I guess the effort of getting to this point caught up with me. The food, with no input whatsoever from me, was superbe.  The crowns, incidently, were well received.

I had little energy for anything on Boxing Day. I managed to change and wash my bed linen before settling in to read Murder on the Great Ocean Walk , stopping only to make some spaghetti with pesto around 3pm - a carbohydrate treat for Christmas. 

I also opened the Panettone I had foolishly bought. A very generous slice each day over five days with my morning coffee took care of that. I am registering an extra  0.5kg on my now reliable bathroom scales and need to take care of that before I see my GP on 5 January.

There was a bit of noise from the pub when I got home on Saturday night, the sound of people relaxed and happy. The pub looks quite quaint from my balcony at night.

I couldn’t get a decent shot of the moon but it could have been an Oberon and Titania night in the Square - with a little help from electricity.

On Monday morning, in 38C, I went shopping for a Beijing duck for my stir fry dinner. The shop, near the Adelaide Central Market, that sells them fresh each day, opens at 11am. On my way out I ran into our Strata rep. As we stood in the foyer talking the neighbour moving out of the first floor was bringing her last furniture down in the lift, so we acted as door openers and holders. The apartment is sold but we have no information about the new owner. 

On my return, with duck, broccoli, bean sprouts and a supply of serviettes, I met Alec, another new tenant, at the lift. He now lives below me. We got in the lift together and registered our floors. The lift doors closed. The lift doors opened. The lift doors closed. The lift doors opened. Eventually we got out. The doors continued their dance. I rang the Strata rep. She rang the lift company. We came up the stairs. Alec kindly waited to see I made it to the 3rd floor. I sent messages to the 5 family members coming for dinner offering a postponement in light of the lift situation. They were made of sterner stuff and prepared for stairs (as well as no buzzer). 

Just after 4pm the Strata rep declared the lift fixed! Family arrived carrying my Christmas detritus and my TerraCycle box, successfully delivered to their place. The stir fry hit the spot. I didn’t photograph it in the rush to get my timing right - and I forgot to add the bean sprouts, but it made for a relaxed and companionable evening. So grateful for the support and love.

Leftovers for late lunch today and the bean sprouts  will go in duck soup made from the bones. That will be my New Year's Eve treat.

The last batch of printed Bishops' Bags arrived today. That's 11 days from my order - printed and delivered from China. Faster than the Christmas cards that arrived today - 13 days from Eastern Australia!

More detail in my embroidery blog.

I managed to finish the sleeves on my cardigan last night. Today I stitched the pieces together. While the sleeves look tiny, they are not. The body is large and the shoulders come well down the arms, to just above the elbow. The photo was taken with the left-hand edge band on the needle. Tonight I am stitching the band. I won't be sorry to see it finished.

I've had a joyful and productive week and wish everyone a Peaceful, Happy New Year. 

Post 617. Christmas Wishes

I managed to mend (at least for now) the glass angel whose head had come away from the solder, so my nativity is now only missing shepherds.

I spent Wednesday morning at CMI Toyota, knitting and emailing while my car was serviced. Just before 7am, Couriers Please informed me they would deliver the bishop cushions that morning, but I managed to contact them and redirect the delivery to the Pack and Send down the road. All power to Couriers Please! 

I was not as fortunate the next day, when I cancelled Pilates and waited in all day for a delivery that never came! While the courier left a delivery card, they did not ring. The system records attempts, and there were none. I have now learned from reliable sources that some courier companies tell couriers not to ring apartments because it takes too much time! I now have the bags. The account of the new merchandise is in my embroidery blog. 

As I was confined to barracks on Thursday, waiting for a courier who didn't come, I decided to wash all my woollens. I put the 9 merino ones in the washing machine  and the five possum merino in the sink to hand-wash. I dried the machine lot first, a bit of turning and bone dry in 3 hours. 

I then spread out the possum merino ones dripping wet. This, at least, is a very good job jobbed.   

I had tickets to the Messiah at the Cathedral on Friday night, but after a lot of thought, gave it a miss. The temperature on Wednesday and Thursday was 39C and 40C, and forecast as 30C on Friday. The Cathedral has no cooling system and the heat builds up over several days. The deciding factor, however, was the cricket. The Cathedral is within an easy walk of the Adelaide Oval, and when a match is on, all parking around the Cathedral is restricted Event parking. As the third Ashes Test Match was in it's third day, scheduled to finish at 6pm, parking for a 7,00pm performance at the Cathedral was sure to be challenging. I opted out.  The attendance over 5 days was 223,638 a record for Adelaide Oval, so a good decision.

Apart from a couple of big supermarket shops and visits to an Art shop and the Post Office,  most of Friday and Saturday was spent adjusting the print on the Bishop bags. On Sunday I ordered 6 more, this time in a paler background colour, in the hope the printing will be clearer. I've organised for these to be delivered to my daughter's home.🤞 I'm hoping this will now be enough bags for those interested.

Once that was done I put the cricket on the television and set to work to get my Christmas gifts in order. I'm missing some of the Christmas sacks with initials on them for each grandchild, but as they are all now adults, and I have no shortage of gift bags, I improvised.  The bags are slowly turning up in unexpected places and I will swap on the day.

I haven't watched a cricket match for decades. As a child I heard the cricket on the radio throughout summer - pretty much everyone listened, and my family certainly did. On Sunday it proved very entertaining. Both sides went all out, making mistakes, but nevertheless demonstrating enormous skill and tenacity.  It was cricket at its best, and uplifting to watch, regardless of who won.

I kept watching until stumps, finishing the second front of my cardigan while doing so. I think I rather overdid making it larger. It is more a coat than a cardigan - but that's good. I've started on the sleeves. I was tempted to knit the two together on the same needles, as my mother and grandmother would have done, to ensure they are identical, but decided to keep it simple. If I managed to match the two fronts working them separately I can manage the same for the two sleeves.

The Christmas emails, eCards and calls keep coming in and four more cards came in Monday's post. I do so love getting the updates. It really lifts my spirits. It's my community, connected strongly over distance.

Monday's dinner was a sausage and vegetable bake, the original recipe from Ken Cock, the dear friend who died this year. My version has many more vegetable varieties than his, but still holds his memory. The photo, of course, is before  cooking! 

As family began to arrive my buzzer failed to work. That heaven for phones! I could go down and let them in. I reported the problem to the Strata. This morning I checked with my neighbour, and placed a sign over my buzzer instructing deliverers to buzz her. Our Strata rep, just back from a 2 week holiday, checked with other reps (the key one of whom was on holiday in Thailand!), then came up and showed me how to reboot my connection. It worked!  My buzzer is now operational! A learning curve for all of us. 

Apart from 2 parcels I have re-routed, I am still waiting on a couple of deliveries one of which is a dress I ordered to wear on Christmas Day. It was meant to arrive yesterday by Express delivery, but appears stuck in Melbourne - no surprise at this time of the year. It is now at Melbourne Airport, so pretty unlikely to arrive tomorrow.🤷

The weather has cooled a little. and is forecast to stay this way until  the weekend. By that I mean 23C-26C  - comfortable for eating outside, not pretty snowflake weather. 

The doves were back today, finding spots where the tiles were warm, but not too hot, to groom and fluff up their feathers, managing to look a bit dishevelled but nevertheless helping each other  to get it together.

Let's shake out our feathers, and help each other to peace and goodwill this Christmas.

Post615 Art, Craft and Nature

 One way or another, there's been quite a bit of art and beauty this week. I treated myself to these Pyrethrum daisies on Thursday. They looked so cheerful and I could see them in this  vase. They are drooping in the heat and won't make it to the weekend.

This week the honeyeaters have been out in force, this one in the honey locust tree behind the apartment. This morning the one on the left was less picturesque in the native frangipani, 

but probably keeping out of the was of the noisy miner claiming territory on the other side of the same tree.

I spent much of the early part of the week thinking about 

an item in the catalogue for the Elder's auction on Sunday. It was a maquette of a statue in Rundle Mall,  Girl on a Slide by David Howie (left). It was a favourite of Jim's. He always said it reminded him of Katherine.

I went to a  viewing on Thursday after Pilates, and took the photo on the right. It was clearly an early maquette (since it hadn't been used!) with the general shape, but little detail. The figure was roughly 6"-7" long. While not what I call beautiful, it is a great piece of history. I talked it over with Katherine and thought long and hard. In the end I decided it belonged in a museum and not in my home. I nevertheless went to the auction to see the outcome. It sold for $2200, towards the lower end of the estimate. I'm glad it sold. I hope it informs the history of Adelaide Art.

On Friday I took myself off to the Museum and Art Gallery. I did a bit of Christmas shopping and had lunch at the Museum. I sampled the upper galleries of the Art Gallery, delighted to see these silhouettes on display. I can remember how many years ago I first saw this, but it made me smile then as it did this week.

I also bought a copy of Jenny Aland's History of the SA School of Art, which is the oldest in Australia, having begun in 1856. Jenny worked with Jim in the Education Department and since retiring from there, continues her work with the for the Arts.

It's a remarkable, monumental, achievement and I'm enjoying dipping into it.

I hadn't managed to plant much of what I bought last weekend at St Margaret's Market. as I had run out of potting mix. As fanily dinner was back on here on Monday, I went shopping on Satuday for moussaka ingredients, then on to a nursery. As well as potting mix  I bought a Bay tree, and a wicker balcony basket.  When I got home I parked the nursery purchases and spent the afternoon making the moussaka. I once did this over two days, but have now got it down to 4-5 hours. It takes it out of me - but with a sense of achievement. It went down well on Monday night and felt good to be back in this routine.

 

On Monday I got up early and, in my nightdress, got stuck into planting. The Bay tree is on the lower right. I managed to rearrange the baskets on the rail to fit in the new wicker one, repotted a couple of spider plants that were badly pot-bound, and potted up the plants from St Margarets. The nightdress went into the laundry basket, I showered, dressed in proper clothes and vaccuumed the carpet where my feet had traipsed soil. 

I  also finally ventured into the Square to see what my tinsel balcony decoration looked like from below. I didn't much like it, so today, after coffee with Panayoula in Dulwich, I called at the Heirloom Christmas Shop and bought a big red bow.

Much better.

The hanging nativity  arrived. It will do for this year, but I'm hoping to find one in the future that lets light through.

Five days ago the Bishop of Grafton announced the appointment of Tiffany, a new bishop for the diocese. I've managed to add her name to the embroidered bag, and spent many hours trying to adapt and adjust photographs to have more bags and cushions printed. It's a tricky process when dealing with multiple photographs. I have both bags and cushions orgered. When they arrive I'll know whether I managed it, and will tell the story.

And  10 minutes ago I finished knitting the sparkly acrylic yarn and writing a blog post. This is the result.

Emails and messages have begun arriving in response to my Christmas cards. I love getting these. They lift my spirits. 

It's been a busy, but satisfying week.

Post 566 Here's a hand, my trusty friend

Like Bilbo Baggins' road in The Hobbit, this blog, originally for a single journey, goes ever on. I am now in the weekly rhythm and it helps me reflect, not only on auld lang syne, but on my here and now. I try to keep both the blog and my actions on a comfortably shaded path, not unlike this one as I entered Pakapakakanthi, or Victoria Park, this morning for a walk.

It was very quiet. The usual flocks and families of birds were elsewhere, leaving a lone Rosella to forage undisturbed.

The carpenter ants, however, were busy on the native Blackthorn bushes and there were park rangers, dog walkers and a few families about. I paused for a while on a log. 

It was, I suspect, more comfortable than the elegantly carved chair that I haven't noticed before.

Back at home, the letterbox held more lovely, newsy cards and I hung out the last washing of the year, a clean start to 2025.

Christmas morning brought photos and messages from family in Canberra before I thoroughly watered plants inside and on both balconies, closing screens and blinds before heading to lunch as the temperature hit 34C.  It was a relaxed (for me at least!) and joyful time. As you can see, we ate inside, where the temperature was pleasant. Outside it reached 37C, remaining well above 30C into the night. 

This was the centrepiece for our Christmas table, carefully arranged by Niamh and Veronica for the feast of lamb, pork, potatoes, carrot, parsnip, broccolini, beetroot, eggplant, pavlova & Yule log. 

The crackers from the Leprosy Shop were (apart from paper hats, which I doubt were naturally dyed!) eco-friendly and met with approval. The ‘favours’ were wooden. A spinning dice (Yes, No, Maybe, Never) got a good run. My scoop (1 teaspoon) now has a home in my Psyllium as my morning measure).

Fionn made a stunning focaccia with a complex dip for us to enjoy while opening presents. I limit my bread, but had 3 pieces. 

Everyone enjoyed their presents. Cookbooks and cooking equipment seemed to be the most popular.

I did well with hand and lip cream, amazing earrings and a book about Vietnamese costume, which I can already see as a hit at the Guild. The bag in which they came is a lovely example of Vietnamese embroidery. Best, however, is a hat! I’d planned to buy one of these, sponsored by the cancer council, but hadn’t braved the parking at the one shop I know sells them.

Yay! I've been wearing it whenever I go outside.

I got home around 5pm, in time to watch the Together at Christmas service at Westminster Abbey, which I really enjoyed, singing along to the carols and getting teary at the stories. The temperature remained high all night and was 31C when I woke on  Boxing Day. Oddly, it cooled down around 9am, after which it was deliciously cool and overcast with occasional bursts of sun. It remained thus for a couple of days.

While most of my balcony garden has done well through the heat, the Almanda I ‘saved’ from the blackbird did not make it.

The one given to me (left of the blue pot) is thriving as is the remaining one taken from it (right of the blue pot). I shall now start another for the friend to whom I promised one.

Over the last few weeks I’ve had a bit of trouble unlocking my letterbox. I have several keys, all cut from the 2 originals given to me by the previous apartment owners. I figured there was some wear on the one I use most regularly and swapped them around. On Boxing Day not even the original I used would work. I was mildly panicked. At this time of the year my chances of getting a locksmith are diminished. I had one original untried so overnight devised Plan A and B. On Friday morning I went downstairs armed with all keys, pen, paper and a large tape dispenser. Plan B involved taping over the letterbox slot with a note to take mail to the PO. 

After a couple of failures, the original key opened it. I have now locked it open. Whew! I can get mail! Yes, anyone else with access to our apartments can open it.  That’s a risk I can live with, unlike the risk of not getting my mail. I can now work out with our Strata rep how to get it fixed.

This slim volume arrived last week from the Book Grocer.- another one for passing around WES group. Imagine if it were stuck in my letterbox, its wrapping visible through the slot, out of reach!  

Shopping hours in South Australia over this holiday period are complex. Most businesses are closed on Christmas Day with the exception of convenience stores and a few hospitality venues. The day after Christmas Day is officially Proclamation Day, the day Governor Hindmarsh disembarked his shipload of free British settlers at Glenelg and declared a British Colony in 1836. 

In other states, this is Boxing Day. Under peculiar  and frequently amended restrictions, supermarkets are not allowed to open on this day, but other shops are, so Boxing Day sales go ahead, even though we don’t have Boxing Day! 

I did not venture to the shops until Sunday, when I replenished my butter supply and a few extras. The mince pies and Christmas puddings had disappeared, replaced by, yes, really, hot cross buns. I can only shake my head.

This is a very quiet time for me. The Guild is closed, families are on holiday and most services suspended. I take the opportunity to catch up on reading, trying to make up the gap in my Goodreads goal for the year. I began December nine books short but made up the shortfall. I am now one book ahead, having cleared up The Serpent and the Goddess, a couple by Ann Cleeves, and been captivated by new series by Abbie L Martin, set in the Adelaide Hills, beginning with The Ghost of Lilly Pilly Creek. I'm not a fan of ghostly cosy crime, but I loved these. There are four in the series. I read all four and want more!

Yesterday I took myself on a walk around the Square. The Sulphur crested cockatoos were out in force, silent for a change as they extracted seeds from the fallen pine cones. 

They shared the space peacefully with a couple of unusually coloured pigeons, while further away, in the sun, an ibis dug for insects.

I was home in time to take delivery of my order of 3 embroidery kits of Evil Eye deterrents. My WES talk on Evil Eye embroidery is not until the last quarter of 2025, but I thought I’d get started on an example or two. They look like fun. 

                                                       

It’s also a spur to finish the Aquile, which is coming along slowly. I'm planning to do more tonight, but can't finish it this year. It's quite challenging, and far from perfect. I hope to post the completed photo next week.

As I finished writing this, I could hear the 9pm Adelaide New Year's Eve fireworks but couldn't see them. This year they are back on the river, and Calvary Hospital blocks my view. 

I can only offer the view from my balcony. The white dot high in the centre of the sky is Venus, the Evening Star, associated with harmony, love and beauty.  What more could I wish for?