Post 597 Birds, bookmarks and a couple of exhibitions

Having spent last Wednesday reading and pottering, I was about to catch a few minutes of late afternoon sun when I noticed this noisy miner perched on my western balcony rail, surveying the Square. Birds rarely visit this balcony, so I was careful not to disturb, observing from inside until it flew away.

On the eastern balcony, however, the doves are visiting most days, exploring the new plants. They seem to approve. 

I am now booked to repeat the Mexican Embroidery gig at the Guild’s General Meeting in March next year. The technology arrangement should have improved by then.

On Thursday, just before Pilates, the post brought a bracelet from the Heart Research Foundation. I have agreed to take part in a data-gathering exercise. It involves wearing a bracelet for one week to measure directional movement. I put it on straight away - exactly 12.00pm, and will take it off at the same time next Thursday  to mail it in the return envelope provided. 

After Pilates I called at the Guild to catch one of the organisers of the pre-Christmas fund-raiser, who had asked for donations of Christmas ornaments and bookmarks. I have a supply of cardboard bookmarks I have had printed. I punch holes in them, add ribbon and use them as gift tags. The recipient gets a message on the back, and can use it as a bookmark if they read in hard copy. 

I wasn’t sure if these would be acceptable  for the sale, or whether they needed to be embroidered. Turns out they are acceptable, so I’ve been busy adding ribbons or cords. I expected to have to buy ribbon, but found enough bits and pieces in my stash.  A metre or so of  complementary silk ribbon helped a lot, once I ironed out the kinks. I now have 48 bookmarks ready to hand over.  

I also finished making a Santa ornament today (detail in my embroidery blog), and have a couple of other things in mind. 

On Friday I finally got myself organised to visit the Dangerously Modern Exhibition at the Art Gallery. It is really,  really good. As I expected, it is far too much to take in in a single visit, so I settled for a 40 minute walk of the whole exhibition, reading enough to get an idea of themes and pausing when something caught my eye (a lot!). I got to the end as my sciatica kicked in, so sat for a bit in front of Stella Bowen’s fabulously evocative  Embankment Gardens c1938, thinking that this was as my father, and other young Englishmen and women must have known the Embankment when war broke out in Autumn 1939. 

There is so much of interest here. I’m pleased I bought a season ticket. Amongst my favourites were the Margaret Preston Harbour Bridge, most of the pottery and Josephine Muritz-Adam’s A Gypsy belle c1896. 

The exhibition has another 5 weeks to run and I’ll try to get back a couple more times. I bought the excellent catalogue to be better prepared, before managing to find a table to enjoy what must be the best Caesar Salad in Adelaide.

Dinner on Saturday night was rich in food and netball news. The cat community will have been kept up to date by the silent presence in the corner.

The rest of my weekend was spent shopping for ingredients for Monday’s moussaka, and cooking the same. I usually get the ragu underway on the top of the stove, then slice and bake the eggplant. When both are done, I assemble the layers in a baking dish before making the sauce - a bechamel to which are added Kefalagraviera cheese (while the sauce is still hot) and egg yolks (once the sauce is cool). I then add the sauce to the top and refrigerate.

For some 50 years I’ve made this the day before  then baked it for an hour before serving. On Sunday, however, my sharpened awareness following recent food poisoning publicity made me pause to think about the egg yolks in the sauce - the only thing uncooked in the dish. Should I really leave them uncooked overnight? A bit of checking suggested a 24 hour maximum. To be absolutely sure I changed the habit of 50 years and baked the whole dish, before refrigerated it, then reheated it for dinner on Monday. Paranoid? Probably. But not sorry.

In between the overcast skies there were a couple of brilliant sunrises. I caught one as the bats returned to  Botanic Park from their overnight feeding. 

Both were gone 10 minutes later.

August is SALA month - South Australian Living Arts, when artists display their work in shops, public spaces and anywhere there's space. The Unley Shopping Centre has turned a vacant shop into a Gallery for the duration, showing the work of Bill McSwain. It looks great - lots of native birds, some in landscapes.  Also ceramic dishes.

I've observed with interest from outside. I have no wall space left and do not want to be tempted.. 

I have another busy week coming up - hostess duty at the Guild tomorrow, a birthday dinner on Thursday, my new bathroom cupboards arriving on Saturday morning, a concert in the afternoon and dinner with a visiting friend on Sunday. Not to mention knitting. 

Carpe diem.

Post548 Birds, blue moon, blanket and bookmarks.

It has been mostly cloudy with periodic rain showers  all week, but the doves seem to find a happy balcony place in the short bursts of sun. On Friday they spent more than an hour making the most of a rare break in the gloom.

 

It was, however, pleasantly warm on Wednesday at the Guild. 

We had a very successful WES meeting, in which the 5 of us who had entries in the Guild's SALA Exhibition talked about our pieces. All had multiple pieces, three involved fabric hand-painted and dyed , using both acrylic and watercolour paints. One black  background involved bleach. All were really creative. Most involved some form of recycling or working with waste materials. Photos are not allowed, so I can't show.

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After Pilates on Thursday I dropped in on the friend newly out of hospital. Great to see him in recovery mode, looking much as normal as he prepares for the next round of treatment.  I visited again on Sunday and stayed for dinner.

I did my shop for Monday dinner at Frewville on Friday, timing it so I could have a very  late lunch at Mr Nick's, a very generous, freshly grilled flathead.

Family travel meant I stayed home on Saturday night. In the morning I made what I thought would be a quick trip to BigW at Cumberland Park to pick up  some Revlon lipstick on special for loyalty card holders and three recommended books. 

The lipstick was relatively straightforward (allowing for all the missing testers!) but,  as usual, I eventually needed help to find the books on the stands labelled by price, or by genre, or by popularity. My librarian brain was itching to impose a single organisational method and alphabetical order. I guess their ability to discount price depends on no employment of an organiser.  Maybe I need to pay more at a bookshop.

I thought I had well adapted to my new coffee machine. It is simpler to use but, on its maximum cup size settings, my double shot flat white ends up around 300 mls compared with about 400 mls in the old one. The taste is great and caffeine content  equivalent. For years now, while on my own, I have used about 5 of the coffee mugs I own - those that will hold 400 mls. Suddenly I can rotate through a wider range. It is uplifting to drink from mugs with memories, like this one, which was one of a pair given to me (I’m pretty sure, for my 21st birthday, but possibly wedding) by a friend whose name was very similar to mine, resulting in confusion when we collected our teachers' college pay cheques!.The pair of mugs were once used daily, which is how one got broken. I’m very glad this one survived.Others bought while travelling are also triggering happy memories.  

This morning I failed to notice the machine was out of beans, which triggered a symbol to add ground coffee. I eventually obeyed and drank the result but went into a mild panic when I couldn't get rid of the ground coffee mode. After reading the manual (no help) turning the machine on and off, walking away and returning a couple of hours later, I figured it out. Phew!  Living alone as I age seems to involve a frequent panics until I work out when I need help and when I can find my own way through a change. 

I've been racing to advance the healing blanket for my friend before he enters the next phase of his cancer treatment. I've aimed for 2 squares a day but have only managed that once. I am now managing 1-1.5 per day. The photo represents the halfway mark. The two columns on the right are stitched together but the left column is work in progress. The pattern dictates each motif is worked in only one colour and the placement is very regular. At the moment I am maintaining the colour sequence, but varying the motifs within each colour. It makes it more interesting to knit, and, I hope, for the user. I have completed two more squares since the photo was taken. I'm blocking each one as I finish.

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There were 9 of us for dinner last night and all managed to dodge the rain. There was, however, no chance of seeing the Super Blue Moon at 6 pm, even if conversation had been interrupted.

Today has remained fairly gloomy, but there was a cloud break tonight in time for a moon shot.

I was cheered by the arrival from the printer. of my latest bookmark efforts.  The Agave one on the left is for my Pilates classmates. The others are pure indulgence - for myself and anyone interested!

(Now how would that moon go as a bookmark?)