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 328 Pilates, Parcels and Printer Problems

 This morning's task was to get my spare room ready for my weekend visitors. The beds were made up 12 months ago, after my last visitors left, but it is also the room in which I store all my craft equipment and unfinished projects. They should be in the cupboard, but over the last year many have only made it to the luggage shelves at the end of the bed -or the end of the bed itself. This morning they all got put away and the trundle extracted from under the bed and set up. It was a bit of an effort, but it is done. I needed a coffee after that. 

I did manage to water the plants and put out some seeds.

I was rewarded by a visit from Black Tips later in the day.

On the way to Pilates I picked up my parcel from the Post Office - and another one from my letterbox.  The one in my letterbox was my copy of the Shetland Wool Week Annual.

My Watford friend Christine had put me on to this. It contains patterns and articles from the 2020 Virtual Shetland Wool Week - and they are fabulous.

The hats, in particular, are calling to me.  Katie's Kep, by Wilma Malcolmson, , made in different colour ways would both use up left-over wool and make fabulous gifts.

I also love Da Skaw Beret (right), by Angela Irvine. I'd like one of these myself. The Kirk Ness Toorie is also lovely.

There are fabulous socks - and leg warmers.

I'm so grateful to Christine for putting me on to this. It's not just eye candy - I will make some of these this year.

I worked fairly hard at Pilates. Martine, my usual instructor, was still on leave and Leanne, the studio owner, took the class. She always tries new things.

Afterwards, I drop some things off at the Salvos and went to Unley shopping centre to do the shopping I missed yesterday because of my shoe. To my amazement, the boarded-up green grocer that didn't open again after our first Covid lockdown early last year has been transformed and opened yesterday as a new business, incorporating another empty shop next door.

It's huge - a really big selection of fruit and veg (this is half of it) and another section, almost as big, with local eggs, pasta, sauces and similar produce.

I've missed a green grocer in this shopping centre, and this one promises to be terrific.

I bought nectarines, plums, potatoes, watermelon, cucumber, blueberries, strawberries and two bottles of my favourite passata. 

They also had a good range of flowers. I didn't buy any, but was intrigued by these ones called 'Green tricks'.

By now it was nearly 3pm and I hadn't had lunch. While I was taking these photos I noticed that The Lunch Club had lime milkshakes, so I indulged along with a sausage roll and a chocolate finger.It was an excellent sausage roll and I took the biscuit home to have with coffee.

After the coffee and biscuit, I finished the Phoenix!  I was so impressed with my effort that I even sorted and put away the left-over threads in my colour-coded containers.

I was feeling a bit tired after all this, but changed activity and got a second wind.

The Phoenix and Flowers is now blocked and drying. I'll take a closer photo tomorrow when it is dry, but I'm pleased with it.

I need to decide whether to add this and Lady Ann's Flowers to my chair now, or wait until I've finished the Aesop's Frame. 

I did not want to rush straight into Aesop, so I played around with my earlier idea of the image and text from Alan Garner's The Owl Service

I tried to print a photo of the plate that inspired Garner, but my printer played up again. I decided the full plate might be too complicated anyway, so I did a bit of a rough sketch . I think something like this might work. 

I'll sleep on it.