Post 485 Warm hearted

It's been a grey, wet and chilly week with lots of great family time, by phone, message and visits. While I've spent a fair time at home, I've also had a few key outings. 

On Wednesday I had lunch with my friend Lorraine. We caught up on and shared quite a bit over lunch at Nature's Providore. I had my usual delicious mushroom bruschetta.

On Thursday I saw my nephrologist. I have put a few kilos back on, and dreaded this appointment. I needn't have worried. He didn't ask my weight, or weigh me but focused on my test results, which were pretty much the same as a year ago. Whew! He did, however, to my surprise, strongly suggest that, as well as continuing my current regime,  I explore injectables. I have made an appointment with my GP to discuss. 

Some of our time was spent talking about his upcoming interview for a job his mentor recommended he apply for. The health industry currently presents opportunities and dilemmas for its workers.

On Saturday I decided against going to the Guild Certificate Workshop on Whitework. I was interested and initially keen, but wanted time at home, and felt I have enough unfinished projects at the moment, without inevitably adding another. 

In an attempt to increase my exercise, I followed an Adelaide Council Heritage Walk around a section of Hutt St. using an information sheet provided online. 

There are a number of 19th century houses along Carrington St on my way to Hutt St. 

I won't remember the details, but will now be much more observant and will take more walks around the area.There are lots of interesting details to see - as well as contrasts between technologies.

I only did part of the walk,  leaving more for another day. The doves' restless and gathering  behaviour seemed to be an indication I needed to get in before the rain - which I did. 

All the kids were out on Saturday night so three of us enjoyed Katherine's parmigiana and the crosswords. 

Sunday was the anniversary of Jim's death. I looked through photos, shopped, cooked and remembered.

Today I visited my podiatrist who is moving to another job in the next couple of weeks. More of the health industry churn. I have an appointment with her successor.

Afterwards I went for a walk in the Pakapakanthi Wetlands. I haven't been for a while. There is still lots of work going on, paths being made and repaired, banks reinforced, plantings. The waters are looking good, with lots of birds and food.

I loved the water plants. I could see patterns here for embroideries.

The wattles, even now, are preparing to bloom.

The time saved by skipping the Certificate Workshop has been put towards St Brigid. It's slow but steady progress - now 5 of 7 pattern repeats on the front completed.

I also made another batch of Corn and Zucchini muffins - this time a bit less browned. Great 10 minutes out of the oven,  terrific cold the next day with butter, and excellent warmed the day after. I'm now keeping a supply of ingredients to hand.

A pretty sustaining week.

Post 484 It's Mad March in Adelaide

This morning I went for a walk in the Pakapakanthi Wetlands. I haven't been for a couple of months. There is a lot of council work going on and, interestingly, not much water in the creek. There's a lot of fallen timber, cut up and left for wildlife to make homes.

Also, a lot of new life emerging in seemingly dead wood.

The week began with Exhibition duty at the Guild in lieu of our WES meeting. It went well. I was Day Coordinator. We had 20-30 visitors and a lot of interest in the exhibits. After worrying that we were short of volunteers, an appeal meant we ended up being able to send some home. Those on duty were great. I enjoyed the day.

It was a long weekend in Adelaide - Adelaide Cup Weekend. It is also Mad March - Festival, Fringe and Womadelaide all underway. After Exhibition duty, I did a lot of stitching and reading. 

On Friday I went for a walk on the Grange Jetty before Sit'nStitch. The tide was way out and there was a class of boys practicing ball skills on the beach. 

On Sunday I walked  to A Prayer for the Wild at Heart for a late lunch. It was quite windy, but still pleasant sitting outside, looking over the Square.

This time I tried the Gnudi -  which was really fantastic. Very glad I went.

I spent some time reading or knitting on the back balcony. My latest dove friend visited and seemed comfortable moving around while I was there. The Almanda Blue is slowly spreading really well and my visitor appreciated the water tray responsible for its health.

Most of my effort has gone into the baby blanket - detail in my embroidery blog. While stitching in the daytime I have been listening to Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, by Rebecca Wrag Sykes. It's an almost perfect audiobook, interesting and full of new information that the pace of listening gives me time to digest somewhat. Much of it applies to ancient - and contemporary -Homo Sapiens,  as well as Neanderthal life. 

In between, when not stitching, I am trying to cover the recommendations for our Book Club next Sunday. I've just started Kerry Greenwood's Murder in Williamstown, which I picked up at Kmart this morning for $A8. Haven't read a Phryne Fisher for a while - so far so good, and a copy to loan to friends and family. 

I'm still avoiding crowds, events and poorly ventilated venues. I wear a mask if in doubt.

There's plenty to keep me happy!

Post 451 Stepping up

This week I've made a bit of an effort to walk. It has worked quite well until the rain set in again today. I won't call it a triumph - or even a breakthrough - but I have resurrected my step-count app and doubled the average number of steps taken over the last few months.     

                        

Some of the credit goes to the wetlands, which I really enjoy. There is new growth (and maybe a bit of mistletoe) appearing and several species of waterbird. 

On Wednesday I paid another visit to Sandy's 100 Year Climate Project which was taken down on Friday. It was good to see it mounted, because visitors could get quite close and see the detail of the stitching.

Hopefully it will not be in storage long before being able to tour more widely.

I got to Grange twice this week. The main event was Sunday lunch with visitors from NSW. It was a long weekend here and almost no cafes or restaurants were open in the city. I had been unable to book a table at my go-to choice of the  Jetty Cafe but managed to secure a table at the Grange Hotel. 

On Friday, on a whim, I went early to Grange for Sit'nStitch with a view to walking a bit and eating at the Jetty Cafe. Out of luck. The cafe was full to overflowing, so I walked a bit and tried the Hotel. 

Not only was it good, but staff went to lengths to get my meal and account quickly so I could get away on time. On Sunday they were just as helpful.

I had the same thing to eat both times - Salt and Pepper Lemon Squid. I suspect the Jetty Cafe has lost a customer. On Sunday we spent 2 uninterrupted hours enjoying a leisurely meal and catching up in most pleasant surroundings before I dropped my friends at Henley Beach for their next appointment. 

I look forward to more meals there.   

On a far more mundane note, I had the sheet I mended last week back on my bed for two nights before it split again, parallel to the mend. I surrender. I washed it, cut it in two along the tear, opened out the corners and stored it to use as backing for embroidery projects. 

However, to keep my mending skills honed, I glued a broken handle back on to one of my favourite mugs. To honour imperfection - I painted the repair with gold paint (a nod to Japanese Kintsugi). The effect is more golden than the photo shows. I haven't tried coffee in it yet! 

Some paper fold-out Christmas decorations I ordered from Welcome to Country, a First Nations social enterprise,  arrived last week. Most of them are beautiful fold-out balls. I have always loved these paper fold-outs and these are superbe. I ordered two stars as well. Both feature art work depicting the Seven Sisters story. The gold one, in particular is so lovely I haven't taken it down.

I bought the balls as Christmas presents, but I'm not sure I will part with them!

The second package from Pascal Jaouen arrived. I knew it was coming today so, in spite of the wet and windy weather, went downstairs to wait for the postman. I had a two hour delivery window, and know the post usually comes in the middle of that, so I got in my steps walking around the Square where I could see the postman's approach. 

The bad news is that it included Glazig Catalogue No.1 when I had ordered Catalogue 2! I had ordered No1 from Amazon, assuming it was in Australia, but it seems to have been sitting at Heathrow for a couple of weeks. I have boldly constructed an email to the Pascal Jaouen people in my schoolgirl French to ask them to rectify.

The good news is the patterns are exciting, the threads lovely and the cards very, very clear and useful. 

Once I had the delivery, I dashed off to Unley to post a finished shawl to a friend - update coming in my embroidery blog soon- and to buy milk. The weather is unpleasant - gusty winds and rain squalls. 

I'm now on to my brother's vest. I knitted a couple of samples to get the gauge right. The pattern has a 13 cm chest difference between sizes and my brother falls between two. I was trying to solve the problem by needle size, but after knitting the samples, decided I can more reliably  adjust the number of stitches.

Interestingly, the samples both have a slant on them, which I am rectifying by knitting into the back of stitches on the purl rows. This works while I am on the rib but won't work when I am knitting stocking stitch in the round. Cross that one when I get to it.

A couple of interesting sunset skies during the week, but too much cloud cover tonight - and for the rest of this week according to the forecast.

These will have to keep me inspired. It's school holidays, so no dinners to be prepared. A mixed blessing.

I got the results of my eye biopsy on Saturday - all clear! Now that is a blessing. 

Post 450 Swiftly fall the days

Wednesday was marked by the arrival of the wool for Brigid's jumper. It seemed to sit at Heathrow for a week - then turned up in Melbourne and made it here overnight. I shouldn't have been surprised by the skeins, but I hadn't thought about it. I don't mind winding skeins into balls, and am happy to do the odd ball on the back of a chair, but 17 skeins is too much to do either that or to dragoon friends or family into winding.

I had organised to spend the afternoon at a friend's place 10km away, to transfer my scans of Maureen's articles to her database. I did a detour, 20 km to Port Adelaide to the Yarn Trader, then 19 km to my friend's place - and bought a swift.

We made good progress on the database - and also had a fine time. I stopped off for milk on the way home.

As soon as I got home I assembled the swift. I chose the ChiaoGoo Amish one. The Yarn Trader has several, but this is the only one that doesn't require clamping to a table. It sits comfortably on a table or the floor and rotates easily. I am hooked.  It is mesmerising. Each skein takes 8-10 minutes to wind and I love doing it. I resisted the temptation to wind all 17 balls at once, rationing myself. Today I have two to go, but I'm considering doing all the skeins in my stash!

Thursday was our Day of Mourning public holiday. I stayed in all day, did washing, read a book, wound 6 skeins and progressed my shawl. 

On Friday I zipped into the Central Markets to buy duck for Monday dinner, since my weekend wasn't going to allow for shopping. It was crowded, which augurs well for the Markets. On advice, I froze the duck and defrosted it on Sunday. It cooked easily on Monday, along with potatoes and broccoli.

Saturday was the Certificate Course Workshop on Russian Goldwork, taken by Jackie Denniston. It was well attended and a lot of fun.  I didn't finish it in the workshop, but got close. I finished off the stitching on Sunday afternoon.  This is just out of the hoop, in need of a clean and iron. The dressmakers carbon I used (bought, I'm pretty sure, in the 1960s!)  left a couple of marks which have faded with careful spot cleaning.

This morning I constructed it into a pouch. The account of the finish is in my embroidery blog.

It's a very nice design. 

In between all of this, I have been entering data into our Maureen Holbrook Document Collection. Its use and structure is revealing itself as we go. I've got a bit of negotiation to do with the Guild Library Team, but it looks as if we will have a database of around 400 items, covering articles on a wide range of countries and their embroidery traditions, searchable by country, technique, author and title, with publication details and whether the Guild holds the source publication. How we make it accessible is still to be determined, but there are promising options.

Sunday was Book Club, and once again, the discussion was wide-ranging and dynamic.  Of the three books we read to discuss, I really liked The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley. Unfortunately, this was her venture into crime fiction, which has been published posthumously and the only one we will ever get. It would have made a great series.

On my way home I stopped at the Victoria Park Wetlands for a walk. It's looking good. 

There were ducks on  the pond, enjoying whatever is beginning to collect in the reeds. The ponds are quite full - a cause for celebration in Adelaide.

The plantings are slowly taking off and you can begin to see how rich it will be in the future.

The Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos were feeding. Not much is allowed to get in their way when foraging!

Yesterday some coffee arrived from Jaques Coffee plantation in Mareeba, Queensland. I had read about the pioneering efforts to grow coffee in North Queensland and thought I should try it. My coffee machine is currently full of East Timor dark roast, so I'll put this away to try later.  

It pays, I think, to diversify one's coffee sources!

On Saturday night  we had the birthday cakes delayed by camp and Mourning Day. Both spectacular, and I had small pieces of each in defiance of my diet. Both delicious.

After finishing off the pouch this morning, I headed off to our special Sit'nStitch. Jennifer is heading to Queensland later this week to spend a month with her family so we had a session. to wish her bon voyage. Her crocheted shawl is looking very good. 

Susan has harvested her Gymea lily, which is enormous. It needs to sit in a large pot or a bucket. It's still not fully open 

but these buds will hopefully continue to open as the weather warms.  I'll keep you posted.

I now have my brother's chest measurements, so his vest is next in my queue. In the meantime, I'm off to wind another skein for the St Brigid jumper.

Post 440 Air waves of various kinds.

Around 3.30 on Friday I had just come inside after sitting on my front balcony in the sun for half an hour, when I heard the sound of bagpipes - loud enough for me to hear the tune through my double glazed windows. When I investigated, the sound was very loud but the piper hard to find, standing under a tree, difficult to see from any position on my balcony. I love bagpipes and the piper was good. This was the best I could do with my phone so I rushed for my DSLR.

The result wasn't much better. After 5 tunes she left walking with a friend towards Carrington St. Yes, a female piper appeared like a goddess through the trees,  laughing with a friend, and, with a cyclist who had been an admiring audience, played beautifully for about 10 minutes before exiting stage right.  A bit of magic on a cold Friday afternoon.

Wednesday's World Embroidery Study Group went smoothly. There were 10 of us there and Barbara went through her presentation on the recent trip she led to Central Australia. 

On Thursday I had morning tea with a friend at her home and in the afternoon Michael came to talk further to me about my life, in preparation for the radio interview I agreed to do for his weekly program on Vision Radio - a community station for the vision impaired broadcasting at frequency 1197AM. We talked for just under 5 hours! He then compiled questions which he sent to me and the interview was recorded this afternoon.  He decided we had too much material for one broadcast, so we recorded two. One goes to air on Thursday 28 July at 7.30pm and the other on 4 August, repeated on the following Sundays at 12.30pm. The two interviews went smoothly - once I found the studio car park! It didn't quite follow the script of our previous session - but we got there comfortably.

On Friday morning I showered and removed the outer dressing on my knee from the mole removal. My instructions were to avoid walking with it,  so I bunkered down and knitted for much of the day. 

There is a lot of Covid in Adelaide (and everywhere else as far as I can tell). My Adelaide family is locked down with Covid, recovering slowly. I dropped in what I hope were some lockdown cheer on Saturday after I'd been to see the Eye Specialist. I included the wrist warmers I've been knitting for Katherine from the Marie Wallin kit I bought last year. A bit mad and useless in Australia - and no help at all in relation to Covid, but maybe one cold morning when walking....

According to the specialist, my eye condition is apparently a bit of a mystery - an unusual development in someone my age and usually associated with auto-immune conditions. I had an eye swab, a referral for another raft of blood tests and an appointment to see her again in 3 weeks time. I had the blood tests on Monday - all but one, for which the clinic did not have the tube. I had to ring their head office and book it. I'll go back tomorrow to have that. 

The blood test clinic was quite close to the Victoria Park Wetlands, so afterwards I went for a short walk - about 20 minutes. It's the first walk I've done since having the mole removed. I'll keep the walks short until I get the stitches out.

The wetlands were looking pretty but some of the paths were pretty muddy.

I'm on a bit of a knitting roll at the moment. This is an Arne and Carlos pattern - Jaeger- which makes a lot of sense in the snow in Norway.  I love the look, and the challenge of knitting it - but it is not a sensible garment in Adelaide, where the lowest recorded daily maximum was 8.3C in 1922. Today was only 9C, however, I'm not sure if anyone will want to wear this.

Plan B is to join the sides and create a bag. I've finished the back, and am now working on the front. It is Rowan Norwegian Wool - really lovely to work with and much easier than the Fair Isle arm warmers. this technique of working the contrast colour in a contrast stitch to the main colour. It takes concentration.

I have managed to resist the temptation to buy any of the new Bendigo Woollen Mill Alpine yarn - 60% Wool, 20% Alpaca, 5%Silk & 15% Neps- and also the Morris & Son sale. I have found a pattern for some Rowan yarn my brother bought at auction (left), and also some 8ply I bought myself a few years ago (right). I'm also itching to knit some of this year's Shetland Wool Week hats, using up some yarn I have stashed. Knit faster, woman! 

I've also been reading Holy Woman: a Divine Adventure  by Louise Omer, an Adelaide author who was a Pentecostal preacher until the breakdown of her marriage, after which she set out on a pilgrimage around the world to find the female divine. It is a remarkable account of the journey. It is a very specific, personal journey, with significant insights into controlling behaviours. It is not as historically based as I had expected. It has sent me off to find some more books from her bibliography - particularly in relation to the transition of Irish goddesses into Irish catholicism. 

It's been cold and grey for most of the week but there have been a couple of dramatic sunsets to alleviate the gloom. There's also the memory of that piper.

I plan to keep knitting and reading this week, going out cautiously as required. Staying safe, staying warm is the theme.