Post 460 Vergola is working!

The jacarandas are now in full bloom.

It has been a bit windy, so there are also purple footpaths. We've had a couple of warm days, but for the most part it has been cool.

I hope the purple mist brings cheer to several friends dealing with illness, infirmity or sadness.

The bats have been back every evening. These are the abundant Moreton Bay figs that they are feeding on. 

The native frangipani at the back continues to attract a variety of birds. On Saturday it was a couple of young honeyeaters.  

One looked like a fledgling.

They are hard to photograph because they are so well camouflaged in the tree, the yellow stripe on their wing blending perfectly with the tree.

They are small and lost amongst the leaves. I rather like their lack of showiness.

The big event in my week was the return of the Vergola man on Friday with my remote control.  Two weeks ago I mentioned that Vergola had employed and trained a repairman who was coming late the next day.

What I didn't report last week was that on his first job that next day he fell off a ladder and injured his back - off work for a week!  He finally arrived last Wednesday, just as I was heading out to lunch with a friend. When he couldn't get the back off the remote control, I suggested he take it back to the workshop, which he did. It turned out there was cleverly disguised tape over the back of the remote. Removing that revealed a screw. I had examined the remote several times and concluded it was a sealed unit. On Friday Andy, the repair man, turned up with a new battery in the remote to see if that solved the problem. I was sceptical - hardly daring to hope. When the Vergola responded to the remote I was so relieved I hugged him - something I haven't done to anyone in the last 32 months! He was as surprised and pleased as me that it worked.  Never mind that I have just gone 8 months without the Vergola  because of a dead battery, I was just over the moon to have a simple fix. Maybe I'm losing my outrage as I get older - or maybe the last couple of years have taught me to be grateful for every positive outcome. Friday was a 34C day - the only one so far this Spring - so closing the roof was a big plus. I move it every day because I can! Je ne regrette rien!

Saturday was the last Guild Certificate Course Workshop for the year. It focused on two kinds of braiding. My account is in my embroidery blog. Some at the workshop asked where they could buy Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags, my brother's book I mentioned last week. It's readily available in Target, BigW, Post Offices, Booktopia, the Book Depository  airports, as well as book shops. 

While I was at the workshop,  I was able to open the door to our apartment building remotely via my phone for the postman to leave a parcel, which turned out to be a gift from my friend Robin - a Claire Unger cup! 

When I got home I still had coffee left in the thermos I take to the Guild, so used it immediately. Such a lovely surprise.

While at the workshop I handed over the Maureen Holbrook folders of articles to the Certificate Course organisers. There are another 5 of these to be picked up from Maureen and added to the database, as well as another collection from Val Darby. A job, maybe, for after Christmas.

I had friends coming to lunch on Sunday, and because I would be at the Guild workshop all day on Saturday, I spent Friday (when not attending to the Vergola) cooking moussaka - one for Sunday lunch and another, larger one, for Monday night. To be safe, I froze the large one and defrosted it Sunday night.

As it turned out, because of illness, Schoolies'Week recovery and work commitments, there were only four of us for Monday dinner. This gave me the chance, two days in a row - to use the place mats I won in the Guild Sala raffle! There are only 4 of them - which are not very often useful to me. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of them on the laden table - but they looked great. 

This morning Panayoula and I caught up for coffee. As we were leaving we were struck by this vista on the house next to the coffee shop - a dove perfectly balanced on the chimney pots against the sky.

Another moment of shared joy to cherish.

Post 410 Christmas is Coming - Keeping Watch

It seems that Feedburner is still working, but not on the two hour window on which it is set. Last week the post was 16 hours late in going out. I will now plan for that and keep monitoring. 

I spent Wednesday recovering from my booster. I cancelled a visit to a friend's place. My arm and gland under my left arm sore, but mostly I was just tired. Around midday got a few provisions from Markets but read and rested. 

I finished the Fallahi pincushion, deciding not to put the tassels all around as  per the pattern. I didn't like the way the cushion sits with tassels on all sides. I quite like it hanging with tassels only around the bottom.

I haven't quite shaken the lethargy all week, but I was fine for Pilates and had friends around for early dinner  on Thursday. 

I cooked duck and made, for the first time in about 30 years, an orange sauce. It tasted good but was a bit thin (shouldn't have added that cup of wine!). No cornflour. It was a relaxed and renewing evening, very pleasant sitting with the balcony door open and the city lights. They brought me a lovely table centre.

The long awaited Rowan No 70 arrived in my letterbox. It has some fabulous patterns. Fortunately, summer is upon us and I have a few things to finish before I decide whether I will take the plunge.

I saw my doctor on Friday morning for my driver's licence assessment. She was, I think, a bit impatient with needing to do it. She believes I no longer need to declare epilepsy and has written as much on the form. I now need to get my optometrist to fill out the eye test and send it off.

I also took a necklace to be repaired at the Norwood bead shop. One strand had come out of the clip. I did my best to retrieve the beads but was one short. I expected to leave it and pick it up after Christmas, but the diligent proprietor repaired it there and then - took about 20 minutes and cost me $12! Brilliant.

Just after returning from Norwood I found a promo for a book that looked promising for my Goddess in Embroidery studies next year. After sourcing it online, I rang Dillon's books (back in Norwood!) to see if they had it in stock. I paid for their one copy and picked it up on Saturday morning. 

It is less useful for the Goddess than I hoped, but very useful for a couple of other projects - including the Certificate Course Christmas challenge, with its theme of 'Star'. It has really clear illustrations and diagrams. Pleased to have it.

Saturday by moonlight.

There were very delicious burgers for dinner courtesy of Anthony. The kids are enjoying their holidays.  It is, however, a very busy time for their parents.

Ali, who cleans for me once a fortnight, is from Pakistan. His father is still there, and is dying. Ali's children were born here and have never met their grandfather. The family of four are attempting to fly to Pakistan in the next week, implementing elaborate precautions to protect themselves against Covid and get back in time to isolate before school goes back in late January. Such hard decisions.

On Sunday I was a woman on a mission. I needed an item of underwear and I wanted to buy two packs of DIY Christmas BonBons from Ecolateral.  The underwear was most easily purchased from a department store in the city. Ecolateral have a large, new shop in the city although I like their original shop on Magill Rd, about 4km from me. I went into the city. I got the underwear in Myers. It took a bit longer than I expected because the helpful assistant persisted in reactivating my loyalty card (which I didn't have on me, and didn't try to us) and installing the App on my phone. Ecolateral, when I got there, had sold out of BonBon kits, but told me their Magill store still had 7 in stock! So of course, I headed out there, secured two of them and headed home to make them up.

They come with cloth wraps, tubes, jokes and snaps, but you provide your own novelty. No plastic toys. The idea is to reuse the wraps and tubes each year. Replacement snaps are promised.    I think people will enjoy them, this year, at least.

This week I selected another long-held but unstarted kit. This one is by Sue Barrows and I've had it since 2009. I did her class in Italian Smocked Silk Cushion at Beating Around the Bush that year, and she had spare kits from another of her classes, The Most Useful Needle Case Ever. I bought a kit, which has sat in my kit drawer until now. 

The smocked panel sits in a double band of silk

Inside you construct pouches in felt for needle packets. Single needles can be added to the felt near the packet. 

It then folds into a pouch.  I found a silk-covered button to hold it in place.  I don't need another one of these, but someone will like and use it. I'm delighted to have finished it!

On a roll, I have begun another old kit, this Hearts and Roses bag from Inspirations 75 - ten years ago. This one is rather more complicated. It comes with a metre of fabric and interfacing, which has to be marked up into over 20 pattern pieces. 

I've ironed and traced, marked up all pieces, attached interfacing, and begun work on the base of the bag. 

This is one of six individual hearts that form the base, surrounded by a vine border.

Now that the stitching is started, this is proving to be a most enjoyable, if fiddly, project to work on.  At the current rate of one heart per night, I might have the base finished by next week's post!

Today I had a podiatrist appointment and went from there to supermarket shopping. I'm hoping I've stocked up sufficiently to get me through the Christmas break. The less I need to go out over the holiday period the better, given the current chaos around opening borders, queues for testing and Christmas shopping.

As I recovered in my favourite chair with a glass of mineral water there was activity on the balcony. To my joy an abseiler swung down to remove the covering on my Vergola.  20 minutes later I heard them depart across the roof - like elves removing chimney covers for Santa's visit.

I'm delighted to have sky back for Christmas! It fits with the 'Star' theme for the stitching challenge.

Today was my mother's birthday. Had she lived, she'd have been 96 today. 

For all of you who follow this journey, I wish you the very best of the season - and hope you too, have plenty of sky for Christmas.

406 Getting sorted

The sunset on Wednesday was striking, ahead of a bit of a storm; more in the distance than over Adelaide, although there was some rain. It was Alison's birthday. 

I had a ticket to  an 11 am performance of Eureka Day by the State Theatre Company but our lift was out of order until midday. I could have gone down the stairs but our borders had opened and we had three Covid positive arrivals.  The theatre,  still surrounded by a building site, had full seating, no hot drinks, no food. I didn't feel comfortable and the experience lost its attraction. I gave up. 

Instead I finished the scissor fob for the Leadlight Counted Set. My head has been out of this for a few weeks and by the time I realised I should work both sides of the fobI had positioned it badly on the fabric, so I used a small piece of Ink and Spindle linen for the back.               

This finishes the set.

The doves now visit as soon as I open the door. They look lovely against the trees and amongst the portulaca.

On Thursday I came home after Pilates to wait for a courier delivering my Christmas cards from the printer. I then went to the Guild and picked up the wool for my Viking Embroidery workshop , came home and added it to the kits.  I arranged to call in at the Guild on Saturday to find the Appleton's wools in the required colours from the trading table.

That turned out fairly well. I should have looked for gold wool as well as the brown, blue and cream I focused on. I've put together bundles of thread and added them to the workshop packs . I've substituted but will keep an eye out for gold. While I was at the Guild, I scanned a folder of articles about Lagartera, which Margaret A had generously brought in for me to borrow. It's a precious folder and better I don't take it from the building. Job done. Many thanks Margaret. We now have quite a bit of information for a session at WES next year.

On Friday I went to Seppeltsfield with three friends to celebrate a birthday.  It was a pleasant day of around 20C, lovely food and great company. I only took one photo - of the roof of the restaurant - a sure sign I was too busy enjoying myself.

On the weekend I checked all my Christmas gifts and made a few bags. I also  went to Frewville to buy a couple of Enzo's lasagna for Monday. I didn't like the look of the Enzo's ones available so settled for two other local brands. Only one was needed. Fionn was at football training until 7.30 and the girls had netball training at 6.30. I served the lasagne with salad at 5.30 for those who could make it. It was thick and creamy. The second one is in the freezer.

There were fireworks in Rymill Park around 8.30 pm on Sunday, visible from my eastern balcony. Apparently they were the culmination of a four day car rally. I also discovered that the New Year's Eve fireworks this year will be from Rymill Park, which means I should see them. Not easy to photograph though!

Monday was a fruitful day. The service men from Burns for Blinds arrived just after 9am. Efficient and cheerful,  they quickly determined that my two controllers had flat batteries and brought a fully charged one from their van. As soon as they used it, the roller shutter descended. It was then I discovered that the battery charger on the wall was not, as I thought, hard-wired, but plugged into a loose cord I thought belonged to a lamp. The connecting plug on the charger is tiny , not visible unless you look underneath, which I had not though to do. My feelings of inadequacy and idiocy were secondary to my overwhelming relief, joy and gratitude. 

It is 33C today and the shutter is down, improving the heat control. 

After the shutter fix I went shopping for bread and stamps. My overseas Christmas cards have gone, and the Australian ones ready to post tomorrow.  I was home, waiting for the girls to arrive when I had a visit from an abseiler. He buzzed from the entrance and came up at my invitation - a very large man in full abseiling gear, pockets and cords attached at every imaginable point. His company, it seems, has the contract to clean up, repair and paint the outside of the building next door and will be abseiling over my back balcony for the next couple of months. He was here to persuade me to a) close my Vergola roof b) refrain from going on to my balcony during the day while they are working.

Somewhat surprisingly, I agreed quite readily. I think I was still euphoric over the shutter result and inclined to assist polite, informative tradies.  I don't spend much time on my balcony, except to hang out washing and water the plants. I spend a lot of time looking out from inside. I have his phone number to let him know if I am going on to the balcony. 

They have put up boards and covers (most of which, of course, I can't see because the Vergola is closed) and have been working this morning, making quite a bit of noise on the roof while getting set up. My only real concern is that I can't see to take photos of them working.  They will remove their cover each weekend.

It is an imposition - but I figure helpfulness won't hurt me. Bizarre though.

Today I changed over to my summer quilt. It looks as if the cold nights are over. I washed the winter one, and hung it out after 5 to keep my promise to the abseiler. I prepared some lamb shanks and some duck legs - my meals for the rest of the week - and went to Unley to buy milk, post cards and deposit a cheque at the bank. That was a learning experience, involving envelopes like mail voting and a postal slot. Surprisingly the notice of deposit into my account was on my phone by the time I got home.

I also phoned the nephrologist's rooms to follow up on my question about vaccine booster. It seems he meant 'mrna' rather than 'Moderna'. I can have the Pfizer vaccine. At the moment the clinic I used for the first two vaccines isn't taking bookings into January and I can't have it before 8 January. So I wait.

While getting organised for Christmas, I decided to reduce my kit stash by making up some ballet bears as gifts for my Pilates class. That's occupied my stitching time this week.  This is a Bucilla kit I bought years ago. I liked them so much I bought several kits.  

There are six bears per kit. I had one full kit and one with four remaining. I've now made up those four. I need one for each of my three fellow students, one for the instructor and one for the receptionist, 5 in all. 

I pondered overnight if I could adapt one to a male bear for the one male in the group.  Late this afternoon I created some tissue templates, dug out some felt scraps  and cut them into the shapes. 

I have just finished putting it together. I think it will do the trick nicely.

One way and another, a getting sorted kind of week.