Post 558 Floe and Flow(n).

On Wednesday morning I caught a glimpse of the two blackbird chicks waiting eagerly for their food delivery which my presence at the window had delayed.  The father had arrived but flew off as soon as I moved to take a photo.

On Thursday morning I looked up from my breakfast to see one chick standing high in the nest. I snapped a quick photo through the glass.  Within seconds it flew away.

My photo caught the beginning of the flight - not an award-winning photo, but nevertheless a captured moment. There did not appear to be another fledgling left in the nest.  The flight took the young bird well clear of my balcony, in the direction of the trees behind.

It seems I captured his/her flying the nest. They have not been back and the nest appears empty. There seems to be some expert disagreement about whether or not they will use the nest again, or come back to the same area. Guess I'll find out.

To complete the transition, within a couple of hours, a magpie visited for water. Soon the doves were back. The coast, it appears, is clear for other birds.

After successfully swivelling the mattress on my new bed as recommended, I spent most of Wednesday (in between checking the balcony for any activity in the nest) completing the gift project I began last week. Now it is in the hands of the intended recipient I can reveal it is Floe, the penguin doorstop from the cover of Inspirations No 123.  It's been a great project to work on. Details, of course, in my embroidery blog.

On a 'complete-a-project' roll, I finished the embroidered flowers I  began several months ago on Ink and Spindle linen for  yet another tote bag (bottom left in composite photo). On Thursday I ironed several lengths of linen, and cut out lining for 3 bags that I had in pieces.  Over Friday and Saturday I stitched them. The Flannel Flower one in the lower right is embroidered a little on both sides, the other two, only on one side. The blue bird is a Nicola Jarvis design repurposed from a worn out bag. I experimented with this one, creating a bag with a zipped top and a shoulder strap. Again, details in my embroidery blog.

 

A completely different 'complete-a-project' involved recycling plastic bottle lids I have been collecting for 3-4 years. I had intended to take them to an Adelaide City Council recycling station, but when I checked, they no longer had a  specific collection box for plastic lids. Further investigation revealed instructions to place the lids inside a plastic milk container and put the full container into the regular recycle rubbish collection. Sorters can see the lids in the milk container and easily direct them appropriately. This seems an ingenious solution for the smaller soft drink lids, but I couldn't see it working for the milk bottle lids.  It didn't take me long, however, to work out that if I used my faithful Stanley knife to cut a triangular flap in an empty soft drink bottle, I could fill it with the larger lids (which are used by several charities to make a variety of recycled plastic products). I was hoping I'd found a solution that is convenient to the recycling depot as well as me. A friend, however, assures me the larger lids can be forced into a milk bottle, so I'll try that next time I have an empty milk bottle.

The 'replant the empty pots' project continues. 

I was able to eat left-over Chicken and fried rice on Tuesday and Wednesday, so visited the Queen St Cafe after Pilates on Thursday for a milkshake and very late lunch. The lunch special was Marinated Rindless Pork Belly with Gingered Hoisin Sauce and Mango Salsa.  It was excellent. 

The jacarandas are in full bloom all around the city. I am intrigued as to why there is such variation in the colour, coverage and timing of the transitions from flowers to leaves. The explanation seems to lie in soil type and water, yet it’s hard to see how these two, side by side in a city street, could have such different conditions. I need to talk to one of the City Council gardeners! 

On Saturday morning while the Christmas Pageant was taking place in the CBD, not far from me, I did a big shop, mostly for the ingredients for Monday night's dinner -Crispy Gnocchi with Sausage and Broccoli - a  recipe from the New York Times suggested by Katherine, which proved to be a success, and will join the Monday night meal rota. 

Sunday was BookClub. We tried meeting in a cafe again, but didn't like it. The noise level in a popular cafe is not conducive to group discussion. We were agreed that The Death of Dora Black was interesting, but would have been better as history than fiction. Our second book,  In the Blink of an Eye is a really interesting projection of the use of AI, in the form of an avatar, in police crime solving. Next month we're retreating to a home.

I’ve finished another Galaxy Dreaming panel. It’s been my ‘grab and go’ while the more ambitious projects were happening. I have two more to go before making a tablecloth.

I’ve moved on to an Irish harp by be Alice. I could finish it tonight, but decided it would be a good project to work on tomorrow while performing my hostess duties at the Guild, so I’m back to knitting up the leftover Rowan wool.

My cleaners have COVID so today I vaccuumed. The making of bags and penguin had left a trail of threads, fabric scraps and crumbs (yes, a girl needs coffee and a biscuit while on a stitching binge) throughout the apartment - and repotting hadn’t helped.  Although it has rained on and off all day, the front balcony doesn't benefit, so I put the hose on again, this time pulling too hard and wetting the carpet in the sitting area. My brother had also requested some specific research, so that is what I was doing while the Melbourne Cup was being run. This bit of the nation, at least, was not stopped by the race.

There is also a curb-side pickup scheduled for tomorrow morning, with unwanted goods to go out from 4pm this afternoon. I'd been saving a few things in my carpark storage, so had to get them out and package them for leaving out with the threat of intermittent rain. It was fine at 4pm, so my old vacuum cleaner, mop, mattress protector (containing polyester which isn’t accepted by charities) and defunct light box are now all awaiting collection in the morning (mine circled). So far it hasn't rained since 4pm so they might stay dry.

I am still processing the recent deaths and illnesses in my small community.  This week there was an unexpected death in my extended family, a friend travelled to New Zealand for a funeral and a Book Club friend is having her bladder removed to counter a cancer diagnosis.  It feels a bit like an onslaught. 

I am fortunate to be alive, supported and in reasonable health. I am trying to make the most of every moment. 

Carpe diem.

Post 557 New Life.

On Wednesday I asked Bill, my cleaner, to leave the back balcony untouched because of the nest. He insisted on climbing on a chair to see into the nest (father having flown away). He could see two chicks. 

On Friday I heard them for the first time, and on Saturday managed to snap a blurry photo through the glass of my bedroom. Today I watched the adult male blackbird feeding them and snapped a few photos without going outside and scaring him off. The photos are still not brilliant, but good enough to show.

The chicks have grown in six days, and there is a bit of a flurry when food arrives, the two young competing to get fed first, and the adult trying to serve both in turn.

I'm not sure what it is he is feeding them, but it doesn't go down in one gulp!

I had intended to go the Certificate Workshop at the Guild on Saturday, but ran out of puff. I had shopped on Friday for Monday dinner (7 of us for Chicken Maryland with haloumi and fried rice), because I also had the second day of the pulled whitework sampler on Sunday.

However, with a concert at the Cathedral on Saturday afternoon and dinner on Saturday night, I decided to skip the workshop. Instead I tidied up and worked on a project for Christmas - which I can’t write about just yet.  

The concert was terrific. Called Organ Fireworks,  it featured a couple of organ solos and numerous organ duets by Anthony Hunt and Joshua van Konkelenberg. A treat. Nothing like the sound of a pipe organ in full throttle. The day was rounded nicely by meeting Max in the evening, the 8 week-old son of family friends, who visited for dinner.  The blessing of new life beats most things.

I had spent hours during the week working on the pulled thread work sampler, taking breaks and sitting in chairs that support my  back while allowing me to get close enough to see to count threads. Carol's instructions were clear enough for me to follow on my own, so I planned to leave the workshop at lunchtime this Sunday. The plan worked and I turned the finished sampler into a bag on Monday morning. Details in my embroidery blog.

On my way home from the class I stopped at Bunnings and bought some plants to refill the pots I emptied last week. I will do it gradually. This afternoon I connected the hose to my kitchen tap for the first time in about 7 months to give the Western balcony plants a good water, and repotted two of the empty pots, one Veronica painted and gave me probably 8 years ago. Until recently it held a Tradescantia Zebrina. I've made several new plants from it, but the original finally died, so I've planted a cheerful daisy in the pot. It will probably need replacing but will look good for months to come.

While I have numerous very happy looking snake plants, this one looked insecure, so I've given it a new pot and position.

Tbere are another half a dozen plants to be potted up, but I shall take my time.

Many of the established plants are thriving on warmer days.

This morning I had my haircut, having put it off for a couple of weeks because I was enjoying the length.

My next appointment is on Christmas Eve - not sure that was a good idea, but provided the City Loop bus is running I should be OK.

On the way home there was a blackbird feeding on a young jacaranda in the Square. Was it, I wondered,  the nesting blackbird? Would it fly over the building? Chances are, it's not, but interesting to speculate.

I was home in time to open the door for the postman to deliver my copy of my brother's latest book, which is, I think, a winner.

Although it's over 500 pages, it contains 110 self-contained stories, making it easy to pick up for 10-15 minutes at a time. Some are very short indeed. Most of them are worth talking about, many worth reading aloud. 

Both Lee and Lorraine would have liked it, which makes me sad, but there are others I'm looking forward to sharing it with.

It's been a week of new life, new growth, new projects, as well as completions and sorrows. C'est la vie. 

Post556 Farewells and Welcomes

Not only is my coffee machine home and working, but as of Thursday my old bed is gone, and the new one in place. The old base had to go down the stairs, but the old mattress and new bed went in the lift. The photo is the deliverers taking the old, and the packingmfrom the new, to their truck, which they managed to park in a loading zone two doors down. I had reserved a parking space for them right outside, but they were concerned they might damage a tree! Fabulous service. 

I made up the bed with one set of double bed linen I had from way back when and the summer quilt, which works fine. There is about 30cm of extra space beside the bed, so I swapped a bedside cabinet for a slightly larger one in another room. I had a big pile of washing  to do over several days. I also discovered that some companies are no longer manufacturing double bed linen! Queen size is now standard. I got the last pair of double bed high thread count cotton sheets at Adairs. The saleswoman told me to buy a lottery ticket!

I had cancelled my Pilates class when the contractors informed me on Wednesday that delivery would be the next day, probably late morning. In fact they were gone by 10.30, having rearranged their schedule so I wouldn't miss Pilates! My spot was still vacant, so I did, indeed, get there, even buying the spare sheet set on the way! In the evening I went out to dinner with friends - a really delicious Feed Me menu at Noi. So quite a day.

On Friday I was home for a delivery of rose quartz earrings and stitch markers - a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness Day. I wore mine to the first Sit'n Stitch in several months that afternoon. We had a great time catching up and eating Susan's fabulous cheese scones. Luckily she gave me some to take home. My brother phoned as I finished bringing the washing in and we talked for the best part of an hour, after which, since I was into my fasting time,  cheese scones seemed like the best dinner, which they were.

Our apartment block is made up of four pods, each with its own entrance. Apparently other pods have plants and/or art works in their foyer, so we have followed suit with a new pot plant, there when I got home on Friday.

On Saturday morning I picked up the necklace I had taken for repair - costing less than quoted because it turned out to be threaded in sections, only one of which needed to be replaced. I took more in to be fixed, ranging from replacement of hooks or clasps to a remake of a pair of broken earrings and a broken garnet necklace. 

The replaced fittings were done on the spot, but the remaking has been left and will take a couple of weeks. I'm likely to find some other broken jewellery in time, but for the moment I think that's it. I'm glad I got organised enough to get these done.  They can now be put to good use.

Last night's dinner was a bolognese pasta bake, which I haven't made for a long time, mainly because I have cut back on my own pasta intake, and Fionn was also, at one point, avoiding carbs.  There were only 5 of us, so there is a lot left over, ironically divided between Fionn and I - the two who stopped the pasta menu!

On Sunday I did Carol Stacy's pulled thread work class at the Guild. The project is a lovely little leaf sampler. While I love the project, I had difficulty by the afternoon with my back and my eyes.  I was using magnifiers, and a seated hoop, extended so the work was close to my face, but I still had eye strain and a very sore back by the afternoon. I left a few minutes early, came home and rested a bit in a supportive chair. 

Once my eyes recovered, I picked up the Chaffinch. It’s an interesting contrast to the counted work. Although I was using the same size seated hoop, it didn’t need to be so close to my eyes, so my posture is better. I was by then past the detail of the bird itself, which might have required closer work, but only for very short periods. I finished the Chaffinch and mounted it the next day. It now hangs on my door and the full story is in my embroidery blog.

I returned to the counted sampler on Monday, limiting myself to about an hour at a time. Even though I can get more comfortable at home, and avoid the back issue, my eyes feel the strain and need frequent rest. Three hours at a time is out of the question.

I spent the best part of today at, or focused on, the 1pm funeral of my friend Lorraine. On Monday night I was asked to read Psalm 121 as part of the service, which took me by surprise but oddly made it easier for me. Nothing like a sense of purpose. I learned afterwards that she had, at one point in her illness, threatened to write her eulogy herself and get me to read it!  

While the photo of her on the order of service was very much Lorraine the Burnside matron, the photo on the screen throughout the service was the one I had taken of her in her Frida Kahlo outfit when we went to lunch in December last year!  There were singable hymns and  a beautiful rendition of Faure's Pie Jesu by a member of the congregation,

It was clear that I wasn't the only one puzzled about Lorraine's early life.  It was equally clear that we all  respected her, and valued her friendship, too much to intrude.

After the service, Lorraine’s friend who had accompanied us to Ukaria late in April took me to her car to give me the Christmas present Lorraine had left for me, a Morgan and Finch tote bag containing two scarves and a bottle of wine! Not even I am that far ahead on Christmas presents, and Lorraine had left them for six of her friends.

The church yard was full of stories and energy. The funeral processed the 20 minute drive to Centennial Park where, at 3.45pm, her body was interred in the same grave as her 11 year old son who died of cystic fibrosis in 1977. Stayers returned to St Theodore’s for afternoon tea!  

I came home to let my cleaner in. He, however, was delayed and is now coming tomorrow. It was too late to join the interment and a bit strange to turn up again at the Church Hall for a very late afternoon tea! The spirit of the occasion, however, was such that I was tempted. Her funeral service did her proud, and left me grateful to have been part of the community that called her friend.                          

Finally, an update on my blackbird nest. On the weekend I glimpsed the male putting food into the mouths of three upturned chick faces before flying away. Since then, both adults have been absent a lot. The male has been back often, but until tonight, I had seen no further sign of young. This evening I once again saw an open mouth being fed before the adult flew away. 

The photo I snapped of a chick wasn't good enough to be of use. This is the best I can do of an adult. As young fledge within two weeks, I should have better evidence next week.   

Post 529 Largely Easter Largess

I've been fortunate to have great company & three meals provided by my Adelaide family over Easter, hot cross buns on Friday, dinner on Saturday & lunch on Monday. Largess, brilliantly cooked by other people.

As always, my minor contribution to our Easter Day feast was a version of the chocolate crackle nests my mother always made. This year the eggs were supplied by Veronica, from the Lolly Shop where she works. My search through several supermarkets, and Haigh’s chocolates were unsuccessful. After Veronica supplied them I did discover a Darrell Lea version. There’s nothing healthy about these. They do, however, hold precious memories.

I was also fortunate enough to be given a scarlet begonia as an Easter present. It is now bringing joy to my living room.

The weather reverted to hot again this week, so watering was a constant task. I took another trip to Bunnings on Thursday and came home with a couple of grevillea in tubes, some hyacinths and a large Dianella to fill a large empty pot.

The hyacinths were barely open but provided a glorious display in the heat. 

They don’t last long, but have new buds emerging, so I’m enjoying the sight and smell.  

Both colours have green tips.

I tackled the Dianella on Sunday morning - a messy job emptying the large pot of soil, which, from the number of peach seeds in it, had been filled with compost from my Hindmarsh home. The memory got to me, and I kept much of it, topping it up with new potting mix. I’m hoping this might thrive and provide some bushiness to my balcony garden.

Watering on the back balcony brings birds to bathe and drink in the heat. On Sunday a blackbird had a very good time in the water. A dove came to observe and stake out territory but didn't interfere.  I haven't seen a blackbird here before.

 

I completed a few tasks over the weekend. The top of the list was the two samples for my Glazig workshop later in April. Details in my embroidery blog.

I also finished reading The Gilded Page.  It has taken  a while to finish because I made notes about women  involved in the book-making industry prior to the printing press. I am hoping to embroider these on another bag of women's faces, I now have 9 names. I got out the faces fabric, which is enough for another three bags, and  began the design process.

Before I went too far, I wanted to see if I could improve on my printed bag experiment of a few weeks ago,  in response to a friend who said she wants one of these Early Women of Books bags. My first experiment was OK, but not ideal.

On the Vistaprint website I found a 'Full Custom'' bag template which promised to allow me to place a photograph over most of both sides of a tote bag. I had a go on my iPad, but it crashed at the review stage. I tried a bit later on my laptop. It timed out at the transfer-to-cart stage. At the moment I can't use Chrome on my 8 year-old laptop so was using Safari. As a  last resort I tried using Firefox on my iPad. This worked fairly smoothly. The photo is from the order courtesy of VistaPrint. The other side is similar and has an authorship statement along the left hand side, larger than I wanted, but I gave up trying to reduce it, fearing another crash.

I have ordered the result which is predicted to arrive by 17 April. It is, of course, the original bag and not the Early Women one. I'm currently waiting on a very overdue cushion from the same company, so we will see. It has given me confidence, however, to proceed with  embroidery on Early Women of Books. If the printing process works, it opens a range of possibilities (just what I needed, more possibilities!).

I caught up on a couple of more books over Easter, Dead Tide, my Book Club substitute, Body of Lies, by Sarah Bailey, and  finished Medieval Graffiti, by Matthew Champion. The latter is another that takes time because I wanted to take notes for possible later use in embroidery projects. No shortage of ideas! I am now reading Carlene O'Connor's,  Murder in an Irish Bookshop with her Murder in Galway also downloaded from the library. 

With all of this going on, and the temperature until Monday being over 30C each day, I have not met my target of finishing the first 80 lines of pattern with my knitting project. I am at line 60, 28cm, so reasonable progress. The sleeve decrease begins at 63cm, so less than two full patterns.

I’ve begun the Early Women of Books embroidery. In between Aquafit and the podiatrist today I’ve fortuitously moved on to Queen Emma. 

This book arrived today. It explores what we now know about Anglo-Saxon and Viking England based on the 2014 examination by archeologists and anthropologists of 6 chests of bones at Winchester Cathedral. The bones were collected by parishioners and stored in stone chests after  William Wallace’s men desecrated the Cathedral in 1642 and scattered bones from mortuary chests, among them the body of Queen Emma.  

I’m planning on putting together a booklet on each of the women to accompany this bag. Looks as if I need to stitch and read at the same time!  Fortunately the temperature has dropped a little today.