Post 508 Mostly Pageantry

The big event in Adelaide this week was the Christmas Pageant. Initiated by a department store in 1933, when 8 floats and 4 bands accompanied Santa through the streets to the Store’s Magic Cave to begin the Christmas selling period. Each year floats and bands were added. Crowds grew, the State Bank joined the sponsorship, staff from the store and the bank worked on the floats, artists and community groups got involved and floats were stored between Pageants. In 1996, before it closed, the department store sold the Pageant to the State Government which continues it with sponsorship naming rights currently going to a pharmacy. It is a big event in Adelaide, held on the second Saturday in November, unless, as happens this year, that falls on Remembrance Day, when the pageant is moved forward a week, It was suspended from 1940-44 during WWII. In 2020 and 21, during COVID, floats and bands circled the Showground arena watched by 35 000 distanced in the stands. 

Last Saturday over 300 000, about a quarter of the population, lined the streets. Because JEMS meet at 1pm on the first and third Saturday of the month, it was a challenge for me. City streets are closed from 5am to 1pm. To pick Niamh up at 12.30pm I planned my route around the city. Unfortunately, my timing coincides with many of the spectators  leaving the city. This time my ring route was bumper to bumper most of the way and the 15 minute journey took 45 minutes. I’m not complaining. Pageant Day Rules OK.

Our journey from Niamh’s place to the Guild involves a right-hand turn from Port Road to South Rd from the West. As has happened before, our arrival at the turn coincided with the unpeopled floats exiting the city to return to their storage, making the diagonally opposite right hand turn from the East. As a safety precaution, all other traffic is halted, so I was able to photograph bits of the floats, not great photography, but you get the idea. 

The birds have kept me busy this week. The Rosella, whose sudden appearance last week took me by surprise just after I’d lamented its absence, came back again on Wednesday, keeping well inside the native Frangipani tree seemingly evading my camera. With patience I got several interesting shots.

Unable to curb my practical impulses, I stayed up until 2am on Friday morning, creating bookmarks and cards from some of the shots. Then, this morning, seduced by a couple more photos, I ordered more from another company.

Yes, I now have a lifetime supply of both cards and bookmarks. Will it stop me producing more? Probably not.

A bee that was on the balcony at the same time got a bookmark gig. Although it deserved a macro lens, the colours make up for it. 

The honeyeaters are still dominant. I am fascinated by the way they (and other birds) can turn their bodies so fluidly, as if they have no bones. One of them made the bookmark frenzy too.

The jacarandas have finally come into their own. The purple haze is now upon us and, on cue the complementary fortnight lilies have just finished blooming outside the apartment entrance.

During the week there was the usual car-shuffle for the cleaners, a late change to my Pilates time, a late lunch at the pub across the Square, an early morning visit from a neighbour with a phone crisis, and a couple of deliveries. I also visited the Christine McCarthy print exhibition at the Art Images Gallery. It’s a long time since I viewed her work. Some I liked a lot.

I didn't get to swimming  today due to a scheduled  5 hour major car service. I turned down the loan car and caught the city loop bus home and back again. I was walking from the bus to the dealer when the Melbourne Cup was run and didn't tune in. The service ended up taking 6 hours with a glowing report and a smooth ride home. They also provided me with a lifecycle report, which indicates I should stick with the car for several more years.

I managed to finish the shawl on Sunday. The icord cast-off took quite a while, but was worth it. I cut and stitched the steek. 

The shape doesn’t suit the hap stretcher and the size suggested  I needed to block it on my floor or buy more foam blocks (it spans more than 2 metres). My friend Margaret suggested I use my single king bed, so I gave it a go this afternoon- perfect fit, and, with a towel underneath, should not damage the bed.

The lacy edge has me a bit worried. I’m not sure it will sit flat on the wearer. I’m wondering if I should wire it.  Final detail will be in my embroidery blog by next week.  

Last week's success with fried rice inspired me to cook lemon chicken for Monday's dinner. I made it in a huge dish, then divided it into two. To one part I added Hokkien noodles, my usual method, and the other I left as is, for those who wanted it with fried rice, which I repeated based on last week’s success. More labour than usual, but I'm getting a bit more flexible with cooking as I get older! It hit the mark.

My neighbour revealed that her 80th birthday is next Tuesday. I'm wondering if I can manage something appropriate in the timeframe. 80 simple flying birds on a bag? Or a bookmark to mark each decade - that I could manage! 

Tomorrow's WES Group meeting seems to have come around quickly. Quite a bit of effort has gone into setting up and checking the projection - along with Plan B and Plan C. Here's hoping

Post 458 Challenging weather and lots of activity.

It's been a week of appointments and service. medical work, Vergola have finally appointed a technician and he's coming tomorrow! I've had dentist visits, blood  and eye tests and checkups. I have more dental work next month and I won't have blood  test results until tomorrow. I do, however, now have a fairly good report from my optometrist. My eye condition is under control, I passed my driving vision test and I have a new pair of glasses on the way.

My dentist is close to the Hameji gardens and I managed a visit after my treatment. It is a calming and meditative place. I love the way individual flowers, or rocks, or  plants, are given space and position. These two stood out.

There were also a couple of cockatoos and a duck feeding on the grasses outside, the duck silent and the cockatoos very noisy. 

We had an electrical storm on Wednesday night. Thunder. lightening and rain around 8pm but apparently most of the action was between about 2 and 5 am. Several friends lost power, which was restored just in time for an even bigger storm on Saturday.

Wednesday had been a busy day with WES group - giving the talk as well as running the meeting. Lots of discussion, plenty of sharing and things to discuss as well as the talk itself. A few members sick, a number caring for partners or family, fitting in between commitments. A really great group. The meetings and follow up take quite a bit of my energy - and gives me great satisfaction.

Saturday was the Christmas Pageant - a big event on the Adelaide calendar, signalling the arrival of all things Christmas. More important to me was the phone call to tell me the two cabinets I ordered 20 weeks ago from Nordic Design Furniture were ready to  be inspected on Pageant day. There are road closures all around me, so I planned my escape. It certainly rained on the parade and for much of the day. It didn't deter the crowds. The city was abuzz, families everywhere, and traffic crawling. I got to Nordic Furniture, signed off on the two pieces and paid the residual. To my delight they were delivered on Monday.

Leanne, the owner and manager of the Pilates studio I attend, has been making plants in clay pebbles for sale. I am hooked. I bought a couple more this week, now that my front balcony is restored and I don't have balcony plants inside.  

So far they are doing well. I'm looking forward to seeing how they go in the long term.

I organised the printing of my Christmas cards and spent a few hours redoing my list of address labels so I could have them printed at OfficeWorks. I picked up the  labels on Sunday and went for another walk in the Hameji Garden. There was a group of Magpies occupying one area and occasionally disturbing the peace.

Most of the flowers I had photographed earlier in the week were wilting but this new one had burst open along a path. 

At home I cooked up a couple of pies for Monday dinner - since I had my lengthy optometrist appointment,  late Monday morning, and the two cabinets being delivered Monday afternoon.

In the light of the delivery, I emptied the Indian trunk which has been storing some of my family history treasures and moved it so the new cabinet  can be put in its place. I discovered a secret section in the trunk that I had not known about. It was (fortunately, I'm inclined to think) empty. The trunk is going to Veronica, who is quite excited about it. Both she and Niamh found the secret compartment with little trouble. It isn't difficult once you know there is one. It's hard to believe I have used the trunk for about 15 years without noticing the space oddity. 

I spent this morning at the hairdresser and this afternoon transferring things into the family history drawers.  

There is a drawer for items from each of three generations 

 -  my grandparents, my parents, and mine. The fourth drawer at the moment is holding a variety of documents. 

I need to do a lot more work to determine what goes in the drawers and what goes into archival folders. There are more Bibles in the grandparent drawer (although they were not churchgoers in Australia) than the others!  There is satisfaction in the task, but also sadness. I'm happy for today to have got this much sorted and the drawers closed.  My main frustration is that I can't find the unfinished embroidery of my mother's, which I planned to put on the top of this cabinet, under the glass I had made for the top. Yes, it is in that safe place. I'm trusting it will turn up.

 

The other cabinet is a replacement for an older, elegant sewing cabinet which opens by the lid sliding in two directions, meaning it needs to be placed with plenty of space on either side. I think the drawers will work better for me.        

It's been a busy and eventful week. My thoughts with friends in NSW in the line of floods yet again, and those still without power in SA. I've nearly finished my brother's vest - and planning my next project - a story for another day.