Post638 You win some, you lose some.

On my Eastern balcony, various succulents have come into bloom over the last week or so, aloe buds opening joyfully and the jade, cassula ovata, sending out long stems of tiny star flowers that I’ve not seen before.

The cassula plant itself (below left) is thriving, along with the swordfern, (well below) clearly enjoying the rain and milder sunshine.

There is a lot of work, however, to be done on the Western balcony where I still need to replace and replant after the summer heat. It's a job I will get to over the next month, but in the meantime I am just enjoying what I have.

Last Wednesday was WES Group and we were a merry band of 12 gathered to hear Raelene talk about Community Arts Projects, focusing on projects gathered around a cause. Most involved quilts or quilting and included the Rajah Quilt made by convict women coming to Australia in 1841 with materials supplied by Elizabeth Fry to help them prepare for the life ahead, quilts made in POW camps, AIDs Quilts, and several school or community commemorative projects.  It was an animated, dynamic meeting with everyone contributing.

The highlight of my week, however, was the 80th birthday celebration for a Guild friend, held as a lunch at the Marion Hotel. I’ve not been there before and very much enjoyed the atmosphere in our room, dominated by a huge eucalypt reaching through the roof. 

I had a great time in our Guild corner, having time to talk to a small group of members I rarely see for more than a few minutes. It was a chance too, to meet and talk with a couple of spouses, all the while been plied with rounds and rounds of finger food. 

I had managed to knit my friend the 2025 Shetland Wool Week beanie for her birthday. The blog post is here.  

The only blot on my day was the ticket I received exiting the carpark. The hotel is on the corner of a busy road with no traffic lights. As I needed to make a right-hand turn I plotted a path away from the intersection, down the side road, without realising it was, for the length of the hotel carpark, a one-way street. The carpark was busy and I had turned into the side street heading the wrong way before realising my error.

I couldn’t see how to reverse, and there was nothing coming, so I went ahead, immediately there were flashing lights and the siren of the police car. The lone officer was polite and understanding. He breathalysed me - the main purpose I presume, of his wait outside the carpark. As I had not had any alcohol to drink I did not add to his statistics. He took great pains to explain the road directions, booked me for ignoring a road sign and travelling the wrong way on a one-way street and said he would issue a fine for one offense with a caution for the other. Thoroughly decent - and I was in the wrong. At home I checked my licence record. As I thought, last month the last of my demerit points (the 3 for trying to take a photo of the mounted police while at a traffic light) expired, so for 17 days I’ve had zero demerit points. I had hoped to keep it that way but alas…

The birthday celebration meant foregoing our Book Club meeting on the other side of town. I spent a couple of hours on Friday recording and annotating what I had read since the last meeting to send off to the group. By Sunday evening, most members of the group had sent me lists of what they had read so I added them to our database.

I had read a fair bit. I finished reading the H.L Marsay Inspector Shadow series and binged last week on the Fiona Tarr Opal Fields series. I had enjoyed the first in the series a while ago, so plunged back in and read No.2-No.6 one after the other. The seventh is out, but I think I've had enough for a while. I'm now on to The Denisovans In the Captivating History series.

Last night I cooked Honey-Soy Chicken and Fried Rice for dinner.  I forgot to take a photo of the chicken. It was tricky to get it cooked through without burning the honey-coated skin. I cooked it in advance while the solar panels were active then heated it covered in aluminium foil. It worked well.

In the meantime I have ploughed ahead wth the Berwick cardigan. I've pinned a section to show the curl.  It's slow-going in the round, but progress is evident. Here it measures 30cm in height - according to the pattern, another 4cm to go before I add steeks for the arms. It still looks huge in width. That's hard to measure, but it's about 1.8 metres around. It won't be too small. More like a coat.  This afternoon, after swimming, I've added another 2cm to the height. With a bit of luck I'll be up to the armhole steeks next week.

Post 625 February is for First Meetings, Family, Friends, Flowers and Food

Wednesday’s sunrise was beautiful. I don’t think it counted as red. I certainly didn’t take it as a warning as I prepared for the first WES Group meeting of the year. It was a good meeting - 13 of us gathered around the table, which was covered with my Sashiko tablecloth, catching up on holiday activity and discussing the ethics of merging cultural designs in embroidery. I thought I had posted the account of this project, but apparently not. I have rectified. 

The temperature is back in the mid to high 30s. It took a while for the Gallery to cool down for our meeting, as we were the first to enter. I met our new Office Manager, who is happy to turn the Aircon on for us in future when she first arrives.

The Crewel Work Company have released the kit and linen for some of the projects from Crewel Work Then and Now,  including the Blue Bird which I loved as soon as I saw it. I have given my copy of the book to the Guild library, which is currently accessioning it. As the Library Team were meeting at the same time as WES, I made a note of the Appleton's wools required for Phillipa’s Then version . and checked my stash. I had 11 of the 51 skeins required. 

On Thursday I called at the Guild again to check if the trading table had any more. I found another 3. Another Guild member offered to search her stash for more - her mother had been into crewel. She found another 8. On the basis that I have almost half the skeins required, and Create in Stitch has a full Appleton's range, I have only ordered the linen. When it arrives I will buy the remaining threads and borrow the book from the Guild Library. If it goes well I’ll have a go at Hazel Blomkamf’s Now version, in cottons.

On Friday Brigid and I had another fitting with the dressmaker, this time the first fitting of the actual garment. It's looking fabulous and should be finished next week. There will be more to come. Back at home I worked on the vegetable bag I've been trying to finish for Brigid's birthday today. I finished it just before midnight on Sunday.  

It folded up as neatly as I hoped, to fit into the Kasia Jacquot bag I had quietly embroidered a few weeks ago for just that purpose.

Now that the vegetable bag is finished I have returned to the Jacquot panels for my craft bags. On Saturday I mounted Olga in a 12" hoop and sorted out the threads I need. The threads were in a bit of a tangle, but are now sorted, and I have enough for this panel. 

I'm still alternating with knitting the shrug. The silk/alpaca  mix is fine for knitting in warm weather. I got a few rows done while we did two more-than-usually-difficult crosswords after dinner on Saturday. 

On Sunday I chickened out of driving to Ukaria for a concert by a group called A Mouthful of Teeth. I’m sure it would have been good, but I just wanted to stay home and read, which I did. It was 35C. Even the bamboo clothes in the load of washing I did dried in 2 hours. I had noticed the publication of the third book by Anthony Horowitz in the Susan Ryeland series, and realised I hadn’t read the second, so downloaded and read it. A little disappointing.

The very large pot of Casula tetragona  on my back balcony ( in the lid of the electric barbecue I bought and abandoned several years ago!) keeps blowing over in any strong wind. The metal base circle on which it is balanced needs to be larger. I keep meaning to go to a nursery to find one. I decided yesterday was the day to do it. Straight after breakfast I assembled the vegetable sausage bake ingredients for dinner. I knew I was missing shallots, and wanted to identify anything else so I could buy them. I went to Frewville for a change - always a pleasure and came home via Barrow and Bench nursery. 

They didn’t have an 

appropriate larger stand. They did, however, have a strange bottomless woven cane circle that I thought might do the job. While it won’t last as long as metal, it works for now and looks good. According to the sales assistant it was intended to go around the base of a Christmas tree!

At the nursery I avoided the plants. No point being tempted when it’s 37C.  I have redeployed the metal stand for the moment for the frangipani.

It is Orientation Week at Adelaide Uni, so all three granddaughters are getting oriented. They seem to be finding their rooms and pathways while avoiding being captured by aggressive club recruitment tactics. Reckon they’ll be rearing to go by next Monday when courses start.

Today I had my annual audiology check up. Very little change in my hearing and my 10 year-old hearing aids are going strong so we have made no changes: a bit astounding, but when on a good thing… 
I drove from the audiologist to the swimming pool - carefully removing my hearing aids to swim 500 metres with no hassles.. 

Brigid’s birthday dinner was at Luigi’s - a fabulous meal that I couldn’t finish. I piked out of birthday cake afterwards - a sugar hit after 9pm is no longer my scene and I didn't think I could resist icecream.

The dinner, however, was special: a privilege to be invited - and to be alive to enjoy it.

Deo gratias.

Post 620 Birthday Boost.

I spent all of Wednesday and Thursday inside doing some family history research for a family member with convict pedigree and working on the bag to the left. The temperature reached 43C and on Thursday 44C. I had thought of visiting the supermarket, but had enough food to keep me going so stayed in. Wednesday’s overnight low was 22C and Thursday 23C. I had the Aircon on each day from around 9am until 10pm and a fan on overnight, remaining quite comfortable. I had tuna(in oil, from a tin ) salad for dinner both days, so the stove didn’t go on. Even with solar panels, I clocked up $60 in electricity use over the two days, not something everyone could afford and certainly not sustainable over long period.

Friday got to 32C. By 9am the buzzer system was restored- a simple reset taking 10 minutes max. 🙄.

My granddaughters and I went shopping for silk at Eastern Silk. This is the choice we had. The girls each have a length or two and are working out what to make with it. Although we can all sew, we will plan a visit to a dressmaker when the initial design phase is over. Afterwards we repaired to the Queen Street Cafe for lunch.

On the way home I stopped at the Brickworks to pick up a newly-released book set in New Zealand. It had reached 32C so I did my shopping there, including a good supply of ice blocks, stopping only to mail a parcel on the way home. Around 5pm the temperature was down to 28 and there was a breeze, so I opened up the balcony doors and turned off the aircon. Such a relief! It made for an impressive sunset.

I skimmed the book on Saturday - well written but not my kettle of fish - too slow, too noir, too many voices.

In addition, I spent several hours doing some very specific research for my brother.

As the weather cooled down on Saturday and Sunday I decided to prepare my next knitting project,  the manteau capelet, with the beaded yarn I bought back in September. 

As it was in skeins the first task was  to wind it into balls.

It is knitted from the top down, so it didn't take long to knit the beaded top border before returning to my embroidery.

I haven't knitted with beaded yarn before. It is progressing and proving lovely to knit with.

Yesterday was my birthday - the last in my 70s. I had reluctantly agreed to a visit from the window cleaner at 8.30am. Adrian, who runs the business, had been trying to organise a visit since November, always at short notice and never when I was home.
 I was happy to be able to say Yes at last. By the time the young man actually arrived it was 9.20, and I had taken two birthday calls while alert for the buzzer (now fixed). He did a very good job. When he left I went shopping for milk and fruit, grabbed a Vietnamese salad lunch and settled at home to advance the Ania embroidery. and take more calls and messages.

Just after 6 I headed out to Sammy’s, on the Glenelg Marina for dinner with Adelaide family. We shared a dozen oysters, ate a variety of seafood and had a good time. I was privileged to open a variety of birthday gifts, photographing the totality when I got home. The spectacle case in the front is cork, purchased by Fionn in a Brisbane market - very rare. The wool is grown, spun and hand dyed locally - as soft as down. The bag is made by a local Guild member, the silver pin by a local artist, the pincushion by Niamh herself, the necklace by a Ghanan migrant in Canberra and the felted ball earrings by a Canberra artist. Amazing and brilliant.

Today I took things easy, prepared for a big clean - it's been 4 weeks since the last one because of Christmas, I did a lot of plant tidying and plenty of watering throughout the week. With the heat and watering the mandeville is flowering. I'm a bit worried about the Mulla Mulla. While the stems still have some green, the leaves have died. It has evolved to deal with heat but may not have been well enough established when the heat hit. I can only wait and see.

I finished off the Ania bag this afternoon.Detail in my embroidery blog.

It reached 31C today, a far cry from a week ago. I'm still enjoying the afterglow of the time spent talking to and dining with, family and friends yesterday. Thank you so much to all of you who have been in touch and given me so much friendship and love.

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 467 Bulletin from the Beach

 This is a short post from the beach at Carrickalinga where I have been since Saturday, staying close to where this photos were taken. There is no wifi here, and very poor connection with my phone provider, so I am uploading this using a hotspot from my two-bar phone connection - a very slow process. I have tried unsuccessfully to load 4 low res photos. I'm not trying one photo only, but if you can't see it, the bandwidth is insufficient.

 I am relaxed and lazy with my daughters, their partners and children close by. It is hot - low to mid 30sC - but a sea breeze and cooler than Adelaide.I hope my plants are surviving. I watered them thoroughly, left upturned bottles of water in some of them and hope for the best. I'll be home again on Friday. 

Last Thursday was my birthday and I had a fine time with messages from friends, lunch with Katherine and the kids at River Cafe, and a visit to Albox to pick up some archival photos for the Guild Samplers project. I had a photo of some fabulous presents I received but that will need to wait, or be discarded.

Many thanks to everyone who made it a great day- relaxed, cocooned in love and support.

                                                        

Today I finished, except for the buttons,  the baby cardigan requested for the Guild shop.   That too will need to wait until next week. 

It's currently raining - great for comfort inside, but less so for the beach. I, of course, like it!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

Post 352

As I drove home tonight from Katherine and Anthony's place there were fireworks in the distance - probably at Wayville Showground. I thought it might be to mark the Lunar New Year, but maybe it's part of the Monster Truck Rumble on there at the moment.

After I'd been home a while I found an eariler text message from a neighbour suggesting I look out of my balcony. By the time I saw the message, my neighbour would have been in bed. I think she was referring to this building, several blocks away - I think between Angus and Wakefield Streets towards Victoria Square. 

The upper floors appear to have been deliberately lit up so it appears to hover in Space.

It's a far cry from earlier in the day. I spent several hours this morning working on the Owl Service until I found myself running out of a particular green silk thread. It was over-dyed thread with a gold edge to it. Rather than run out over the weekend, I made a dash out to Create in Stitch to see what they had by way of replacement. 

I don't know where I got the thread from, or even what brand it was. It was wound on to a green thread holder. Samela, was, as ever, helpful. She thought the thread was Gloriana, and I'm inclined to agree. She didn't have an exact match but we're in the ball park. I was also after some gimp to edge the piece, but I was out of luck there.  I bought a couple of lengths of a twisted braid to try as substitute, but wasn't happy with it. I've since ordered some from Dale Rollerson.

Katherine has been working for a couple of years to establish a garden in their front yard, using wicking beds. It's been a long haul, but is finally paying off. It's looking really good.

Today was Anthony's birthday. He'd spent most of it at a Beginner's Bee-keeping Class. He had learned quite a lot. He cooked delicious pork and Katherine made a very delicious cake from Jim's collection of recipes. It has marshmallow melted into the middle, forming a kind of nougat layer.

Candle-blowing at the moment, of course, has to be separated from cake. 

It was lovely to be able to be there for Anthony's birthday.

I had been to the supermarket on my way home from Create in Stitch and bought the ingredients for Monday's dinner - or so I thought. I made a list - fetta, cheddar, filo pastry, eggs - and clean forgot the pasta!

I'll go and get it tomorrow.

Here's where I've ended up with my Owl Service tonight. It's slow, experimental work, but I'm getting there.There's still a way to go, but it's working out. 

 

Hopefully I have enough of the right thread to get me through the weekend. It gets exciting as I begin to see it taking shape and the original idea emerging into some kind of reality. 

I am, I think, on a roll. 

It's also late again. I will need to adjust the time for the email notifications to go out - and remember to move it back in the morning!

Post 319 A very happy birthday

These are my friend Deirdre's Queen of the Night flowers, currently blooming at her home in Lismore in northern NSW. It is an orchid cactus that, yes, only blooms at night.    They are native to Mexico. 

What a privilege to have one growing and see it bloom.

It was a day of privileges for me. I woke at 6.30 am, the time (so I was told) that I was born 74 years ago. My mother was just 21 and a great mother. She'd have loved to see these flowers.

I had phone calls this morning from a couple of friends and also my brother. and a long call from Alison late this afternoon. There were emails from other friends, including a lovely long newsy one from Christine in Watford, still keeping on keeping on. She received my Christmas card yesterday. It was posted on 13 December!

There were no less than 3 Jackie Lawson ecards - all different and cheery, as well as newsy text messages - and 20 or so FB messages.  

I don't remember receiving so much attention on my birthday. I am feeling very privileged and loved. It is  important to me, and to my identity, to have friends from all times of my life - from primary school, high school, university, my paid work life and my retirement and both immediate and extended family.  Thank you all for staying connected - whether on my birthday or other times.

. 

The event of the day was a birthday lunch at Normanville (photo courtesy of Caitlin on Katherine's phone!).  The most spectacular meal was Niamh's beef burger held together by a knife.

The kids chose, bought and/or made me really thoughtful presents. Veronica's earrings were made from brown sea glass- light shines through them in the sun. Niamh's annual pin cushion, to keep my chairs safe, was entirely designed and made by her this year without help. I love the birds.  Brigid's earrings were, amazingly, each two fused cowries, so they are reversible, Fionn's shell and bead chime is so elegant - perfect shape for my balcony

and the necklace, by Suzette Watkins of Australian Landscape Jewellery is one I had, unknown to Katherine and Anthony, actually looked at online to buy as a gift. It is really beautiful. 

Back at the Golf Hotel, I talked with Alison, took in the gifts, reread the wonderful cards 

and cracked open the bottle of de-alcoholised (yes, that's what the bottle says) wine I had bought at the local supermarket - the only kind they offered.  It doesn't, I think, have a lot to recommend it.

The birthday surprises were not over.  At 6pm, as a magpie made a lot of noise on the roof above the next balcony, the locksmith arrived to fix the lock on my door! It took 45 minutes, a lot of deconstruction, visits to the van, reconfiguring and testing, but my door now locks and my key opens it. 

I miss the gaffer tape that kept the malfunctioning lock from locking me either in or out, but it will be good not to take my computer, iPad, Kindle and Kobo with me every time I leave the room as a precaution because it doesn't lock.

The big red kangaroos put in another appearance at dusk. I really do wish I had bought my SLR - or upgraded my iPhone to either an 11 or 12 Pro with a 4x zoom. The 2x on my phone just won't do the job.

My stitching has been a bit limited today - two crocheted squares and half a stem to support the Phoenix.

Not bad, all things considered.

It's been a fabulous day.