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!

Post 486 Autumn

I tried another vegetable bake with chipolatas last night. This time I left out the lemon juice and baked it at 200 degrees in an attempt to get it a bit more crispy. I cooked it for about 100 minutes and mixed it around several times during cooking. It worked fairly well. Nothing burned, and about one third of the contents were to some degree crispy. I think that's OK. Everything is cooked, and it provides a bit of a choice of soft or crispy. I meant to add the lemon juice back in at the end, but forgot (likewise the photo). Next time.  I think the higher temperature worked. 

I finished the multi-coloured baby cardigan and delivered it to the Guild shop to go with the crocheted blanket. It was well received and completes their current need. The next round of demand is expected around October. I need to finish the second crocheted blanket I am working on - then take a six-month break from  baby bundles. It's been a useful stash buster - and I enjoy it. There are, however, a couple of other things calling.

Before I seriously moved on to them however, I attended the Guild's Certificate Course workshop on Rumanian Braiding and Needle Lace with Christine Bishop, who had generously as always, worked lengths of braid for us in advance so we could work on the needle lace and weaving.
I really  loved it. It is a great design. I finished it off at home, but haven't quite mastered the braiding yet. It's much easier with a lucet but this does give a more decorative result. I'll keep trying from time to time. I haven't quite decided what to do with the finished piece. 

My next knitting project is Brigid's jumper, the wool for which arrived last September. I have gathered my tools (lots of stitch markers!) and cast on. I need to refer to three charts to progress, so am waiting for a few uninterrupted hours to get into the swing of it. Hopefully tomorrow.

My embroidery priority is Glazig. I need to prepare for a workshop on this in May, so I have started working on the kit Genevieve so kindly sent me last year, Yar Zour (Beautiful Chicken in Breton). It is proving to be most interesting - more detailed and varied than I had anticipated. I hope to have this finished this week and will write about it in my embroidery blog. I'm learning heaps.

My progress on Yar Zour slowed today. I had originally planned to go to the Cinema, to see Fisherman's Friends 2. It is only showing once this week. I really enjoyed Fisherman's Friends 1 which I saw twice, once in England with Pen and Mark. I haven't been to a cinema since Covid arrived and thought I might venture now that I've had my 5th shot. However, on reflection, I demured. I read several critical reviews of the film, and lots of luke-warm comments. Since Health authorities have warned of an infection peak this month in Adelaide (Mad March), it seemed a silly time to relax my risk management, especially if I am likely to be disappointed in the film itself. Looks like I wait for it to be streamed, or buy the DVD. 

That left me free today to finish the bag I have been making for my hap stretcher. This is quite a saga - details in my embroidery blog. 

Daylight saving ends next weekend. 22C today. This afternoon I needed a singlet under my cotton top - always my sign that Autumn is here. The day began with rain but finished with sunshine - perfect for my plants, most of which are looking very happy.  I fertilised them about 10 days ago. The forecast has been amended to rain for most of this week. Plants 1, washing 0. We don't complain about that in Adelaide!