Post 568 A Birthday to remember!

On Wednesday, after a morning of packing the car, drenching the plants and closing the curtains, I picked family up from the airport, before heading. straight to Carrickalinga. There was an accident on the expressway that delayed us for some 15 minutes, but otherwise we made good progress.

We had a holiday rental on the beach. We've stayed there before. It's a very 1970s Aframe, with a  master bedroom and ensuite on a mezzanine, accessed by a spiral staircase, with living area below, both overlooking the beach. Through the door at the back is a rumpus-room setup, bathroom/laundry and a bunk bedroom. The house is currently For Sale. 

The other family holiday rental is a 15 minute walk up the hill and has spectacular sunset views. They cooked a BBQ dinner for our arrival.

I had a good, and very lazy, four days. I didn't have a swim. The rest of the family gathered early in the morning and in the evening to swim (far too hot to swim in the middle of the day: we are neither mad dogs nor English).  The day temperature fluctuated around 25-28C, a good 5-7 degrees cooler than Adelaide.

Our Strata requests we turn the water off in our apartment when we go away, so I had done this as I left. The taps, both hot and cold, are situated in a cupboard in the lift foyer on each floor. Mine are behind a downpipe, not easy to get to.  As I turned the stop-cocks off, the hot water meter fell off on to the floor of the cupboard. The round meter, on the left, should be on the round dial on the right.  I didn't have time to deal with it before going to the airport, so reported it the next day. This resulted in several phone calls on Thursday, and my neighbour giving a plumber access to the cupboard. On my return on Sunday, the dial was as I've left it. I'm assuming the plumber is trying to source a replacement. To my relief, and as the plumber predicted, once I reopened the stopcock, the hot water supply is unaffected.

 

Sunday was my birthday. We had dinner at the Normanville Surf Club on Saturday - an excellent, relaxed meal with lovely views and attentive service. The Canberra visitors were flying home on Sunday afternoon, so we packed up our house by 10am and imposed ourselves on the rest of the family for brunch before heading back to Adelaide at 1.30pm.

I didn't manage to photograph the piles of bacon and eggs Fionn cooked on the BBQ, nor the haloumi Brigid cooked, nor the numerous mocktails made by Niamh and Veronica, but the fruit and cheese convey the idea.

I was, in the words of Fionn, showered with presents. 

This is some of them. Two are really enticing kits, one Japanese fabric to make into a bag in any way you like, and the other a very inviting cross stitch mat on Nordic style. 

Veronica's very cheeky earrings consist of working pencils (!) and silver bird claws made by an artist who is also a taxidermist. These, I think, will provide a better signal than an evil eye amulet. I can't think of a clearer way to say Do not mess with me! I shall use them accordingly.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time for what was, unfortunately, a fairly turbulent trip back to Canberra. 

Back at my place, the plants had survived well. I had clearly overlooked the Christmas poinsettia in my pre-holiday watering frenzy. It looked sad, but has revived with water. I unpacked food and immediate needs, had an 80 minute phone conversation with my brother and numerous messages from friends to round off the day.

On Monday I set about finding places for my presents. Brigid had given me a hanging bird with a crystal, which needed a spot where the bird colours could be seen and the crystal wouldn't set anything alight by focusing the sun. I tried suspending it in the fly screen of the balcony door, but the colours are lost in the light. The Japanese women enjoyed holding it above the bookcase, 

but in the end it hangs nicely from the converted oil lamp.

Fionn's bird is taking longer, because the solder gave way at the base and I am trying to find a fix. I don't solder, and I’m out of superglue. Trip to hardware shop tomorrow.

Niamh's pin cushion demanded white or yellow pins, requiring a trip to Create in Stitch. It looks fantastic. All I need to do is to put the same pins back as I use them.

My next task was the fabric Alison and Karl gave me. It is woven in Harran, Turkey and purchased in a market town.  There are 3 metres of it and it deserves a proper dress. The dressmakers I know are retired or semi-retired. I could be a nuisance and call in a favour. Once I could have tackled it myself, but not now. After a bit of searching I found a dressmaking business just over a mile away on Unley Road, so took the fabric there straight away.

They were amenable, but needed me to supply the lining fabric.

I was headed to Create in Stitch for the pins, so thought I'd ask there before heading to Spotlight. Simela found me a fine cotton in a cream colour, which works well. I went straight back to the dressmaker, and have ordered a very simple, A line, long dress. I have a fitting on 31 January. 

While I was away my neighbour had taken in a parcel on my behalf.  This turned out to be a birthday gift from my friend Vivienne, who has knitted me two hats! They fit nicely and will come in handy in winter. The other component is ingenious, two clip-on earrings, joined by a chain, to form a shawl clip! Another useful winter accessory.

Fionn got it right - showered with gifts!

My prediction about which project I would progress while away was well off the mark. I began the Evil Eye protection embroidery and just kept going. I really loved doing it. I finished it early on Saturday. When I got home on Sunday I mounted it in the display hoop and on Monday found backing fabric. Detail in my embroidery blog.

I managed a few knots for the tassels, but nowhere near enough. I’ve almost managed one tassel, rolling some of the linen trimming into a round and covering with needle lace to form the head. It’s slow work. 

This morning I composed a final, rounding-off sentence for this post, before discovering that my storage locker had been broken into during a Sunday night car-park break in. My locker is about 75cm wide and 1.5 metres deep. There are storage boxes at the back and a 1.8 x1.8 metre trolley in front. The trolley is quite hard to move. The photo on the left is face-on to the locker gate. The large cardboard box sits on top of the trolley that has to be manoeuvred out when the gate is open, to access the boxes piled beyond.

The intruders cut, not the lock, but the metal the lock goes through. They must have pulled the trolley out, removed 2 boxes behind the trolley, replaced the trolley and arranged the door to appear locked! They took 2 boxes,  marked Personal Treasures and Treasures from Asia respectively, into the street and abandoned them, opened. A box of diaries was opened and some diaries, I think, are missing, as are the remaining 8-10 copies of Conversations with Baby Boomer Teachers that I self-published.  With the help of neighbours, the rest is back. The weirdest thing is that the intruders put the locker back together. It’s not easy to do. They could not possibly have been searching for diaries (could they?)! There is a lot of Strata security activity. We had CCTV installed late last year. I haven’t asked yet if it picked up anything.

I had written this morning that it has been a good week and thanked everyone who sent messages. Today’s discovery has not altered that. Yah Boo Sucks to intruders. At the end of the day, it's just stuff. If I ever meet them, I shall thank them for being tidy. I hope, however, I'm wearing Veronica's earrings! 

I really appreciate the connection, support and love shown to me this week. I may not have swum, but I feel afloat. One nice touch is that while we were at Carrickalinga, Fionn asked what happened to a boomerang we had above a door in our Hindmarsh house. I didn't know. Turns out, it was in the box of treasures found abandoned in the street. It did indeed come back!

Post 430 Promise, Progress and Patching

I managed to capture a little bit of this flight of galahs on Wednesday evening on the way to have dinner with friends. They were over the West parklands - a flock, I would guess, of a couple of hundred. 

It was a day of friends. In the morning, I met Panayoula at Jim's grave at Centennial Park. She wanted to visit and pay her respects so we met there before going for coffee on King William Rd.

Centennial Park is as pleasant as ever - lots of bird noise, relaxing and peaceful. Lovely to visit with a friend.

The flowering gum has produced another marvellous crop of  gum nuts. I collected a few. They might embellish some future project. 

Panayoula and I had, as always, a relaxed and empathetic catch up over coffee. My dinner with friends was similarly renewing and strengthening. 

I finished the third bag-from-jeans on Thursday morning (details in embroidery blog. I used up most of my green perle threads in working it, so called at Create in Stitch to replenish them before Pilates.  

I took the bags to show Samela, because she had allowed me to have the last copy she had of Beautiful Botanical Embroidery,  and most of the threads came from her shop.  She asked my permission to photograph the bags and use in her newsletter, which she did on Saturday. I'm very flattered. While it looks as if there are six bags, there are only three embroidered on both sides. 

I registered for a postal vote for our upcoming Federal election as I did not feel comfortable queuing on election day in our current Covid situation. The ballot paper arrived earlier in the week and I filled it out at friends' place on Wednesday night - fulfilling the requirements for a witness to view my blank ballots, then watch me fill them out and insert into the provided envelope. I registered and mailed it on Thursday and got a receipt from the Commonwealth Electoral Office yesterday. Yay!

Friday was Jennifer's birthday, and three of us went to Fino at Seppeltsfield in the Barossa for lunch. It was a bit cold and wet, but the sun came out in the Barossa.     

 Seppeltsfield gives the impression of no change - but has been continuously adapted to the demands of customers over decades. Lovely setting, delicious  food and good company. Can't ask for more.

Of course, we visited the Jam Factory at Seppeltsfield where there was an exhibition of funky Australiana pottery in the Gallery. 

I bought myself a pair of earrings - made from Indigo fabric from a Thai village that has produced it for centuries, and aluminium sourced from discarded baking pans! 

As I drove home from a most satisfying day, there was promise of things to come.

On Saturday I made two moussaka, one for Monday night and one for a Sunday evening meal with friends. I had run out of whole nutmeg to grate over the top so had to resort to the ground variety when none were available on Sunday morning. I also made the cheese sauce using pecorino instead of kefalograviera but got some of the latter on Sunday and added to the top. It was a pretty good result - and I have a couple of nights of left-overs!   

Over several years now, I have been patching some favourite pants for a friend. Bought in Bali and made of cotton, they have split several times and I've patched them with Indonesian batik. This is the latest.  My granddaughters reckon the patches are an improvement! My friend is happy - and I have enough batik to continue until they are covered.

Yesterday my broken blind was cheerfully removed by Mark, who assures me it can be successfully re-corded and explained the complicated process. The bad news is that it is likely to take weeks in the current labour conditions. Since it's Winter and the sun is to the North, I'm hoping I can sleep without a blind for a few weeks. First night was OK. I have a backup plan involving a curtain, but I'd need to install a couple of hooks and a spring cord at the top of my balcony door - too high for me to try. So I'll need to find a handy person if I can't manage for a few weeks.

My Vergola controller still doesn't work and my air conditioner hasn't been serviced. Both companies are impacted by staff shortages because of Covid and will get to me some time. 

Today I saw my ENT to have wax removed from my ears. He hasn't seen his family in Malaysia for 2 years and worries that some of them will die before he sees them. My coffee catch up with a couple of friends this coming Friday is  off as one has Covid.  However, my ears are terrific, my ENT remains cheerful, the two companies are working on providing the service I need  and this afternoon my neighbour and I moved our surplus furniture and equipment out to the curb side for pickup by the Council tomorrow.  There was a gentle sunset.

I spent several hours sorting the folders of embroidery and knitting patterns, notes and articles I've collected over a couple of decades. I haven't quite finished, but there is an emerging order. I've also labelled the files in my filing drawers.

I've also started a kit of Jenny McWhinney's Arabian Dilly Bag - a gift from a few years ago.

One foot up and one foot down, that's the way to London Town...