Post 646 Stars and squares

I should have known from the complex, colourful sunrise that greeted my opening eyes on Wednesday that it would be a challenging day. It was the day of my presentation on Anglo-Saxon Embroidery to WES - a preparatory run of the one I have agreed to give to a tour group in August. To my relief it went well. There was a lot of interest and a couple of useful suggestions.While I was giving it, two messages came into my phone, one from my Pilates tutor asking me to change my booking for the next day, the other from the coffee machine service mechanic. 

At the end of the session I managed to message Pilates and cancel for this week. 

Returning the coffee machine call proved  complicated ( if your call is about….) so I called in briefly on the way to the audiologist.

My machine had a new part and was working.  After a discussion with Henry, the serviceman, I suspect the chipped interior part he found had been the cause of the malfunction for the last 7 months, since, in fact, they last serviced it! I left Henry to make one more check and dashed to the audiologist, where my hearing aid turned out not to be broken. On the spot, the brilliant Rada wired me up, determining that the problem had been a small deposit of wax blocking my eardrum and creating an echo! The wax has now moved of its own accord. Recommended treatment is to syringe my ears twice, rather than once, a week and kept using the hearing aids! I went back and collected the coffee machine. By now I had too much gear for a single trip from car to apartment so began with the heavy bag of books from the WES presentation. That’s when I discovered the message that there was a parcel waiting for me at the post office! 

 

By the time my brother called around 4pm, I was slumped in a chair, the coffee machine operating and the Wordle done. I also knew that the Australian-made, merino wool trousers in the parcel would fit me and that, with no Pilates the next day, I might be able to take up the just released OfficeWorks trade-in offer on Apple devices to replace my much-loved but dying iPad mini!

I finished another JusticeNet beanie before falling asleep.

My hopes for an easy resolution to the iPad demise was short-lived. The trade-in message had been poorly worded. The offer is only online, and my local OfficeWorks does not have any iPad minis in stock. I did get helpful information however. I now know how to delete all data from my tablet and how to go about getting a trade-in, regardless of how I buy a replacement. I also confirmed that the manufacturer recently upped the prices of the current product range by $200 an item!. That seems an odd way of preparing for the new range release in 3 months time! I'm better informed, but still not clear what to do, so for the moment I keep using the old one. In the meantime I began the next tea box lid, opting for The Stars of Winter.

I made steady progress, so on Friday, having used up my archival supplies on last week’s tea box, I did a round trip to OfficeWorks to pick up some acid-free backboard, to Spotlight (slowly, through the roadworks on South Rd) for acid-free wadding, then the butcher, greengrocer and supermarket for supplies for Monday’s moussaka. 

Saturday morning therefore, was taken up making the moussaka. It rained on and off so, in between showers, I made time to finally plant the lobelia I had bought for the wall garden so it could benefit. I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen ( messy business, moussaka) when our Pod Rep rang to chat and tell me I could go ahead with cleaning the balcony vents.  When we hung up, half an hour later, I returned a call I’d missed from an old work colleague, long retired from the Federal Public Service, wanting to consult me on a paper he is writing. Hearing from him was a joy and occupied another 35 minutes, after which coffee was called for and I returned to those Winter Stars.

I finished the embroidery o n Saturday and blocked it on overnight, mounting it on Sunday. It's not yet delivered. When it is I will post more details. There was a lot of rain, and, unfortunately, my ceiling drip returned. The inspection is scheduled for Monday of next week with Shane, who will also clean the vents on my balcony verandah.. 

I switched briefly to knitting, to create a few samples. A granddaughter wants help to knit a blanket so I am experimenting with a few chunky yarns.. I'm going to suggest 12 ply (top 2). 16 ply (lower) would be faster, but is not machine washable. A garter stitch produces a larger sample than stocking stitch, so there is a lot to take into account. Today I order several more balls of 12 ply in various shades of green. 

This was a welcome break this evening. Earlier in the day I had begun the embroidery for the next tea box, this time the Anna Scott Galah Ripe for Picking. 

I have doubled the size so it will fit the tea box lid more substantially.  It's quite slow-going and fairly compicated. I have just started on the needle lace body of the galah. It's hard on my eyes, and is likely to take a while. You can see why I took a knitting break!

The rain is benefiting the back balcony  There are numerous spots looking lush and verdant.

My eyes are feeling the strain of today's embroidery. I think it's time for bed and an eye mask.

Post613 Lots of Purple and Patience

It seems a bit early to me for Christmas decorations. I did put out the candelabra but the rest can wait for Advent. 

Wednesday began with my 4 monthly Optometrist appointment. My eyes are going well under the current treatment regime. They were checked, my steroid creme prescripion renewed  and my checkups moved to six monthly. We talked along the way about Christmas, so I came home and sorted out the presents in my wardrobe. I could only find one of the four sacks I made for grandchildren in 2019  (a replacement of the original felt ones that had worn out). Does this mean it’s time to abandon them now the users are all adults?

On Thursday morning I had an email from Snapfish asking me to order something, or lose the archive of my past projects. It’s a bit ironic. The reason I haven’t used them for several years is because the early photo books I had ordered from them had disappeared from their website and I found another service that provides an archive service and more flexible formats. 

I thought however, that responding to their email might give me leverage, so I examined their current offerings. Amongst them are a couple of printed bags and a cushion. Of course, I thought it would be worthwhile trying these as spin-offs from the Bishops Bag.🙄

Apart from my Pilates, I spent the entire day, and most of the evening. experimenting with photographs and Snapfish software. Like most companies, but unlike those I ordered last week, Snapfish bags are printable only on one side. In the end I combined individual photographs of the 14 embroidered faces into a Word document, which I then converted to a jpeg file using screenshot. I had to do this several times to get a high enough resolution to create merchandise and to get a size that uploaded without cropping out faces on the edge. I have finally ordered a tote bag, a library bag and a cushion. I have a feeling the cushion might prove to be an attractive choice.  

In the middle of all this I had a phone call to say my coffee machine was ready to pick up. I was happily drinking a cup of coffee from the insulated coffee pot  I had filled that morning , so delayed picking up the machine until Friday. The explanation for the problem is still a bit thin, but I am now operating it without a filter, and hoping the signals for descaling will now be clear to me. Danielle, who runs the shop and deals with customers, had taken the trouble to go through the processes with the technician and then again with me. So far so good, but I’m not counting my chickens yet. Danielle is great.

It's good to have espresso coffee when I want it, but I'm very pleased to have rediscovered the convenience of freshly ground coffee through a stainless steel drip filter into an insulated coffee pot. I've got choices!

On Saturday I paid a visit to Create in Stitch. It was raining heavily. On the way home I managed to find a place to stop on Halifax St to photograph the jacaranda trees. I love the mature trees with the contrasting black wood. 

Back at home, with another coffee,  the drip began again in my living room wall.  I took notes, timed it, and notified our Strata Rep. Another visit from Shane is now scheduled early this Friday.

It was, at least, good knitting weather. I managed, finally, to finish the left front of the cardigan. It looked (is) huge, and I was anxious to see if I had overdone the size shift. It appears, however, to be the right size.  Even though it had to be held in place, I didn't want to take it off. It would have been a good addition in Saturday's miserable weather.

I've now begun the right front.

Three of us ate well and,  in between intermittent checks on the Schoolies Week weather, managed the crosswords  with a bit of pooled knowledge - and an observer.

Sunday was BookClub and the only day this week when rain was not forecast. I managed to get my 2 weeks of accumualated washing done and hung out before I left at 9.45am. As I hung it out, the Jenny McWinney peg bag I made in 2012 finally fell apart. A shame, but it's had a good run. I used the pegs as they fell but couldn't stop to deal with it.

I had somehow missed the street closure notices for the Supercars Final which starts next Thursday. Roads are already closed, stands and bollards  erected. I had to go a very long way around to get to our meeting at Norwood. It was worth it,  The recommended books created animated discussion. 

As we shared our reading, I added another 48 books to my database of the crime books we have collectively read this year. I now have an 11 page table, in Word, containing 485 titles - the books we have individually read and shared with each other this year.. Another BookClub member has now transferred it into Excel format so it can be interrogated by category, not essential, but useful and handy. I'm hoping to recruit a granddaughter to help me manage the database,

It was also the day the cushion covers I'd made recently reached their destination. The account of their making is now in my embroidery blog.

There isn't a big choice of peg baskets in Adelaide. I found this wire mesh one at Bunnings and bought it on Monday. The old one, unfortunately, has gone to landfill. 

While at Bunnings I was seduced by a lemon scented pine, being marketed as a Christmas tree. It's very limey-greem which I rather like.  Let's see if I can keep this one alive beyond Christmas.

They also had the first poinsettia of the season. Not very big, but I do love them. While I eschew Christmas decorations before Advent, I don't count plants in the category!

My hairdresser doesn't wait for Advent. When I visited today she and her apprentice were engaged in wrapping the entrance door in a gigantic gold ribbon and bow. While Nikki cut my hair, the apprentice unpacked a box of frosted trees which she arranged , on instruction, in the window. The idea was to create a village in the window.

After some discussion, I came home, collected the box of santons, traditional pottery village nativity figures from Provence,  and took them back to the salon. 

Jim bought these some 15-20 years ago. I haven't  had space to display them here and Nikki was keen to borrow them. She has promised me photos when they are set up. I can't find any photos of the figures set up, so the box will have to do. They are tiny, and my guess is there would be 70-80 figures.

On my way home the second time I stopped at the Chemist, had a prescription made up, and returned the bathroom scales I bought 10 days ago. They have begun behaving like the last ones. 

This morning they gave me, within 5 minutes, a weight varying over a 3 kg range. The pharmacy was unsurprised, and very good about it,  refunding my money and will return them to the company. 

After discussion with pharmacy staff, I came home and checked out non-digital scales. I have, with some trepidation, ordered the one that is used in most doctor's surgeries. The reviews are mostly positive, and reliability seems high. There is no local supply and they are more expensive than those I've tried so far. I really need to get accurate and reliable weight measurements regularly, so here's hoping it's third time lucky.

This afternoon I've had the call scheduling Shane's visit to look for the leak early (sigh) on Friday morning. I also had a message to say by B&O TV is at the warehouse and can be delivered once I pay the balance! 

Also, all the printed bags I ordered, plus the cushion, are on their way to me. It looks as if I will be spending much of the coming week waiting for deliveries and services!