Post 533 Long Post for a Full On Week.

Wednesday turned out to be busy as I set about restoring order to my balcony after the re-grouting of the tiles. The tiles needed washing, the pots and furniture returning to position. The first discovery was that my squeegee, the only mop I own, was broken. The sponge squeezing mechanism had come apart, and was missing a connector. I could still operate it awkwardly, holding the disconnected rod. 

I took the opportunity to clean the runners on the door and insect screen of their accumulated grime. The two water dishes were slimy. One contains shells, which in turn were covered in slime. I soaked the shells in a mild solution of bleach, then scrubbed each one with a nail brush. They now look clean and the water clear. I've moved the dish out of the sun in the hope the algae won't form.

I deadheaded flowers, tidied a few plants, swept up petals and reconnected the hose. 

I noticed that the zygocactus is about to flower - so the honeyeaters will be competing with the noisy miner for access before too long.

By the time the balcony was restored and clean I was exhausted. I made a coffee and explored potential replacement of my squeegee. 

I keep a short broom with attached dustpan on the balcony. The broom has nylon bristles, now misshapen and sticking out at all angles. An online search revealed the Frewville Foodland had suitable replacements, so I set off and found what I wanted, a squeegee with a more robust mechanism and a small, handmade broom from Vietnam. 

I already have one of these with a stiff bristle. The new one is soft, and very good at finding fine dust. One on each balcony

When I got home I returned the shells to their dish and finished the job. I decided to replace the hose as well, with one that is tidier and takes up less room. (Yes, this really is tidier!)

Around 3pm, as I was having lunch, a courier delivered the four printed tote bags I had ordered - the Early Women of the Book.

I am delighted with them . Two are for friends in Sydney - fellow students of Early English Literature and Language in undergraduate days, who are as excited as I am.  One is destined for a charity auction and another for the Guild SALA Exhibition - along with the explanatory booklet. 

This has been a very productive exercise. As with the earlier bag, one side has printed the photo as uploaded and the other has somehow removed the white background. It is obviously how the printing process works. I'd like to understand it, but, as they are printed overseas, I doubt I will. 

There was a fabulous full moon that night and I managed to get a decent shot through the slats of my Vergola using my phone. It's the best moonshot I have managed.  A Proud Titania kind of night.

Thursday was ANZAC Day, a public holiday, with Dawn Services and marches of Veterans and service men and women all around the country. I don't attend. I do, however, acknowledge the service of family members and remember their sacrifices - including the mental health issues that followed throughout the lives of those who survived. They needed to forget, but we need to remember.

I had decided not to bake Anzac biscuits. It is school holidays, so no one but me to eat them and  I already had a few left from last month's batch. The point about Anzac biscuits is their keeping capacity. They were developed to last for months on sea voyages to France and Egypt in WWI.  However, when I received this email from a cheeky friend  Dont forget the ANZAC biscuits are in the oven and they burn quickly. WE DONT want them burnt again this year, I got on my high horse and immediately made a batch. That'll show him! No fool like an old fool! At least they will keep.

I had bought fresh prawns on Wednesday, intending to have them in a salad, but in view of the chilly weather, stir fried them with broccolini and peas. A good meal.

On Friday I met a friend in Stirling for coffee and scones. It was busy and crowded, but we did a lot of catching up. She brought me another Alamanda Blue, one that is ready to propagate. Mine is doing well, but isn't old enough to be divided, and I promised one to another keen gardener. Cathy seems to have the Alamanda magic  touch. She has several plants, all excelling themselves.

A balcony isn’t ideal for plant division on this scale, and it has taken me several days over this busy week, but I now have three new plants from this giant, which will grow back over the gap. This is quite a rare local swamp plant and would be best in a pond. It’s important to keep propagating them.

When I arrived home from Stirling there were two parcels in my letterbox. One was a metre of Spice linen - the lining for several bags I am working on. The other was a total surprise - a shawl knitted by an overseas friend as a gift. I was so warmed in every way. An unexpected, personal, perfect gift. It went perfectly with what I was wearing. I feel wrapped in friendship and heather.  

And speaking of heather, Marie Wallin’s new collection was released, and yes, against commonsense, I have ordered a kit. This one is simply too beautiful to pass up. And, from the sublime to the ridiculous,

Even worse,  I also ordered an Uradale (centre) colour way kit for the newly released 2024 Shetland Wool Week hat. 

My Saturday workshop on Glazig embroidery for the Certificate Course went really well. The 12 attendees were enthusiastic, diligent and creative working right up to 2pm. 

I captured 9 of their efforts, thanks to Lee who prompted me to photograph the results before it was too late! The one that looks messy is because I photographed it too close through the plastic bag after it was packed up. I really liked the edging but didn’t want to ask the student to unpack it.

Niamh arrived home from her school trip to Indonesia with stories and gifts. Mine is a pair of lovely filigree silver earrings in a batik box, accompanied by a berry for cleaning the silver. I’ve been to Indonesia a number of times but never encountered these. 

I might just try following the instructions.

On Sunday I had a 2.30 pm concert at Ukaria. It’s a 40 minute drive with my friend Lorraine, and this time also  another friend of hers, in time to secure a convenient car park and enjoy a platter lunch beforehand. The Dudok Quartet of Amsterdam played Mozart String Quartet No.23 in F,K.590, Grazyna Bacewicz String Quartet No4, Tchaikovsky String Quartet No3 in E flat minor. The Ukaria garden is at its very best, and the music was great.

Although school term has begun, yesterday was a pupil free day so no family dinner. I needed a day to shop and recover after a pretty full-on week. Much of the day was spent in a panic, trying to find an example of embroidery a student had given me on Saturday for the next WES Group meeting. I had been too busy and tired on Sunday to unpack my Glazig teaching bag and when I got to it yesterday the example was missing. I searched the car and house and phoned the organiser. I was working out how I was going to explain the loss to the student. Several hours later I worked out where I had tucked it, to keep it safe. Phew! 

Today I had lunch with Panayoula, catching up and sharing our opinions on world problems. At home I finished off making a pot of soup to keep me going for the rest of the week.

I have now reached the sleeve cast-off on the Andes cardigan. It’s looking good. I'm looking forward to seeing the impact of shaping.

It has been a busy, productive week - thanks for reading to the end!

Post 529 Largely Easter Largess

I've been fortunate to have great company & three meals provided by my Adelaide family over Easter, hot cross buns on Friday, dinner on Saturday & lunch on Monday. Largess, brilliantly cooked by other people.

As always, my minor contribution to our Easter Day feast was a version of the chocolate crackle nests my mother always made. This year the eggs were supplied by Veronica, from the Lolly Shop where she works. My search through several supermarkets, and Haigh’s chocolates were unsuccessful. After Veronica supplied them I did discover a Darrell Lea version. There’s nothing healthy about these. They do, however, hold precious memories.

I was also fortunate enough to be given a scarlet begonia as an Easter present. It is now bringing joy to my living room.

The weather reverted to hot again this week, so watering was a constant task. I took another trip to Bunnings on Thursday and came home with a couple of grevillea in tubes, some hyacinths and a large Dianella to fill a large empty pot.

The hyacinths were barely open but provided a glorious display in the heat. 

They don’t last long, but have new buds emerging, so I’m enjoying the sight and smell.  

Both colours have green tips.

I tackled the Dianella on Sunday morning - a messy job emptying the large pot of soil, which, from the number of peach seeds in it, had been filled with compost from my Hindmarsh home. The memory got to me, and I kept much of it, topping it up with new potting mix. I’m hoping this might thrive and provide some bushiness to my balcony garden.

Watering on the back balcony brings birds to bathe and drink in the heat. On Sunday a blackbird had a very good time in the water. A dove came to observe and stake out territory but didn't interfere.  I haven't seen a blackbird here before.

 

I completed a few tasks over the weekend. The top of the list was the two samples for my Glazig workshop later in April. Details in my embroidery blog.

I also finished reading The Gilded Page.  It has taken  a while to finish because I made notes about women  involved in the book-making industry prior to the printing press. I am hoping to embroider these on another bag of women's faces, I now have 9 names. I got out the faces fabric, which is enough for another three bags, and  began the design process.

Before I went too far, I wanted to see if I could improve on my printed bag experiment of a few weeks ago,  in response to a friend who said she wants one of these Early Women of Books bags. My first experiment was OK, but not ideal.

On the Vistaprint website I found a 'Full Custom'' bag template which promised to allow me to place a photograph over most of both sides of a tote bag. I had a go on my iPad, but it crashed at the review stage. I tried a bit later on my laptop. It timed out at the transfer-to-cart stage. At the moment I can't use Chrome on my 8 year-old laptop so was using Safari. As a  last resort I tried using Firefox on my iPad. This worked fairly smoothly. The photo is from the order courtesy of VistaPrint. The other side is similar and has an authorship statement along the left hand side, larger than I wanted, but I gave up trying to reduce it, fearing another crash.

I have ordered the result which is predicted to arrive by 17 April. It is, of course, the original bag and not the Early Women one. I'm currently waiting on a very overdue cushion from the same company, so we will see. It has given me confidence, however, to proceed with  embroidery on Early Women of Books. If the printing process works, it opens a range of possibilities (just what I needed, more possibilities!).

I caught up on a couple of more books over Easter, Dead Tide, my Book Club substitute, Body of Lies, by Sarah Bailey, and  finished Medieval Graffiti, by Matthew Champion. The latter is another that takes time because I wanted to take notes for possible later use in embroidery projects. No shortage of ideas! I am now reading Carlene O'Connor's,  Murder in an Irish Bookshop with her Murder in Galway also downloaded from the library. 

With all of this going on, and the temperature until Monday being over 30C each day, I have not met my target of finishing the first 80 lines of pattern with my knitting project. I am at line 60, 28cm, so reasonable progress. The sleeve decrease begins at 63cm, so less than two full patterns.

I’ve begun the Early Women of Books embroidery. In between Aquafit and the podiatrist today I’ve fortuitously moved on to Queen Emma. 

This book arrived today. It explores what we now know about Anglo-Saxon and Viking England based on the 2014 examination by archeologists and anthropologists of 6 chests of bones at Winchester Cathedral. The bones were collected by parishioners and stored in stone chests after  William Wallace’s men desecrated the Cathedral in 1642 and scattered bones from mortuary chests, among them the body of Queen Emma.  

I’m planning on putting together a booklet on each of the women to accompany this bag. Looks as if I need to stitch and read at the same time!  Fortunately the temperature has dropped a little today.

Post 525 In my little corner of the world

Still a lot happening. My windows were cleaned beautifully on Wednesday. Malcolm, the team member doing insides of individual units had the best job. The outside team varied their routine to avoid being in direct sun as the temperature rose to 39C. 

I now have clean views of the very pleasant landscape from the inside, both East and West.  

I will make good use of these over the coming week when the daily maximum is not forecast to drop below 30C.

                       

I visited OfficeWorks and bought a cork board and stand to hold the collage for Brigid’s birthday (photos are in colour, I have camouflaged for privacy), then stayed inside until 4.30pm when I headed off to friends’ place for dinner and a long catch up in the cool of their home, a really welcome and renewing interlude.

The main focus of my week has been Brigid's 21st Birthday party on Saturday night. A party is a very rare event for me these days and I admit to nervousness. Everyone was going. Alison and Karl came over from Canberra. There were, of course, related catch-ups. I had a pantry to stock for any  visitor contingency, and, because there had been a leaking window in the guest room weeks ago,  beds to make up.  My haircut on Friday was coincidental, but useful, and I managed to keep it reasonable for the necessary 36 hours.

The party was a huge success. The venue, the Semaphore Surf Lifesaving Club, was perfect, with plenty of indoor space and a stunning outdoor and boardwalk area of which photographers took full advantage. Again, for privacy reasons, the only photo is a screenshot silhouette, which, I think, demonstrates the potential.

Brigid, her friends, siblings and parents are to be congratulated on an event which was enjoyed by so many, went so smoothly, and created so much enjoyment. My pleasure and enjoyment were extended through Sunday and Monday, with family around and rare time to share and reflect. It's a timely reminder of the importance, on many levels, of such occasions.  Jim would have loved it.

Last week in the midst of party preparation, I realised I needed to get organised for my Certificate Course Workshop on Glazig Embroidery in April as the looming deadline for a notice in the Guild newsletter couldn't be met without the detail of what I am going to do.  I managed to grab moments and meet the deadline. Details in my embroidery blog.

One of the moments grabbed was a visit to Spotlight around midday on Saturday. On my way back I  was caught in a long stream of traffic held up at a level crossing, where we waiting expectantly for a train to pass. Instead, two men in safety vests appeared on foot from either side of the boom gates, walked to the two reflector lights, wiped them with a cloth and retreated to one side where they activated the lifting of the boom gates. 

A Jacques Tati moment.

Today I skipped Aquafit. I needed a day of no commitment as a pause, to catch up on blogging, stitch a little, sit and stare.  Family are safely home. Jennifer has reached Northern NSW on her Queensland journey. I ran into Panayoula who did get to the Looms of Greece Exhibition and has joined the cause. Tomorrow is a catch up with friends who've driven over from Sydney for Writers' Week, the fridge is full of food; there's a growing pile of books to read and the cockatoo bag is progressing. 

Deo Gratias!

Post 487 Plenty to celebrate

Today is Fionn's birthday. We celebrated last evening with his choice of dinner - his mother's Mulligatawny Soup and apricot cake. I contributed rice and popadoms.   

It was a lovely evening of sharing, celebrating a fabulous young man. I am so privileged to have him in my life.

We are still doing Covid candles - and I for one cannot see myself reverting to previous practice. Blowing over shared food for 70 or so years? Once I stopped to think about it ....

Daylight saving finished on Sunday morning and the extra hour included a morning chill that prompted me to change over to my winter quilt. There were sufficient hours of sunshine to wash the summer one and get it dry, so the symbols and the housekeeping aligned.

I did enjoy the last few days of 7.30 sunsets. It's a good time to take in the loveliness. It's now dark by 6.30pm.

It was a neighbourhood kind of week. I worked steadily all week on my Glazig project and treated myself to a late lunch after Pilates on Thursday at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart along the Square. It was a bit windy sitting outside, but still pleasant and the food is excellent. It's pleasing to see how much the jacarandas, planted a couple of years ago, have grown this summer.

I arrived home to a call for help from a neighbour who is booked into hospital for a pacemaker fitting in April. The online registration form sent by the hospital had discombobulated them. It took us 2 hours to complete the online forms. I was very happy to help. It was convivial and we had a few laughs. It concerns me, however, that such a complex process is expected of patients. Many would fall at the hurdle.

On Friday Susan and I assembled the hap stretcher. It was an easy, if slightly awkward process. We didn't, in the end, use it to block her shawl, which eventually blocked flat on the table without pins. We did, however, learn a great deal. The stretcher will work well with any shawl with two sides at, or close to, a right angle.  Fully extended, it is 2metresx2metres but it can be assembled in many smaller sizes. If you enlarge the photo, you will see four square holes along each side. These are the positions for reducing the size.

My back-up duty for JEMS on Saturday turned out to be an easy gig.  It was a small group of 4 students, enjoying each other's company. One used the sewing machine to assemble her cushion and insert a zip. The others needed little help.

My major stitching achievement for the week was to finishYah Zour, my Glazig project. I am delighted with the result, which is detailed in my embroidery blog. I feel as if I am in the swing of this now, and might work a couple of small samples for my May WES presentation.

I am now concentrating on Brigid's jumper - a cable fantasy which will challenge me until I am into a rhythm with the 5 charts that are repeated in a sequence of 7 across each row. A day of so should get me into the rhythm.

Yesterday we had information that the abseilers engaged to undertake the much delayed painting of the western wall of our apartment block, including balconies, will begin their work at 7.30am this Thursday. I am sceptical, given the following day is Good Friday - but I will still have to clear the balcony in case (sigh). 

        

Also related to Easter, yesterday morning two young women buzzed my apartment. When I answered, one explained, My friend and I are inviting everyone to a party tomorrow. It's free. Can we leave an invitation in your letterbox?.  Having no interest at all in parties, but  being polite, and assuming they were locals preparing neighbours for noise, I agreed. 

The invitation turned out to be a Jehovah's Witness Easter Memorial Service some 12km away! Both ethically and theologically dodgy!

I hope your Easter experience is peaceful, personal, profound - and honest!