Post593 Ticking off lists and testing

Wednesday was very cold for Adelaide. I stayed in, washed sheets and a jumper, read the fourth book in the Inspector David Grahame series and progressed the Glazig Butterfly embroidery. 

Thursday, however, was a different matter. I had an 8.45am appointment with my endodontist to finish the four root canals begun in May, so I broke my no-food-before 8am rule, suspecting, correctly, it would be several hours before I could eat. The tooth had to be opened up, cleaned out again and filled with the permanent gutta-percha and sealant. A couple of X-rays later and all was well. 

I came home spent an hour on the Butterfly embroidery and sealed up the box of plastic recycling that has stood next to my laundry door for 7 months. I wrote about it when I bought it in early December last year. I calculated that if I could make it last six months I’d regard it as worthwhile. It has comfortably lasted seven months. I could probably have pushed it to hold a little more. It weighed 4.2 kg. It was awkward to handle, and I used a lot of packaging tape to ensure it didn’t burst open, but there was no trouble depositing it at the post office with its prepaid label. I had already bought the next box when the company had an Earth Day 30% discount. It is working out at $23 a month to recycle my 600gm of soft plastic. I’d prefer it to be less, but I’ll continue. It seems fair that I should take some responsibility for dealing with my detritus. I'm aiming to make the next one last 8 months. In the meantime, local councils are slowly sourcing recycling services. Hopefully this is the last one I have to buy.

From the post office I went to Pilates, experiencing no ill effects from the dental treatment, then to the Brickworks to pick up a copy of the second in the NZ Bookshop detective series and the latest Margaret Hickey An Ill Wind. I took the opportunity to drop into Tony and Marks for breakfast grapes (ending up with three packets of stunning biscuits, 2 avocados, and two packets nuts and seeds as well) before

swinging past the Guild to drop off my pink silk lipstick holder and the wooden cotton reels I had promised Christine. This got me home right on 3pm, unfortunately just too late to have lunch at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart but in time to bring in the washing that had been out for 30 hours. I do like a day where the to-do list gets ticked off! It is not lost on me that my first excursion after posting the soft plastic recycling resulted in plastic bags with grapes, biscuits, nuts and seeds.

After all that activity, I settled in to finish the Glazig butterfly I mentioned last week.. I finished the embroidery and spent much of Friday constructing a bag with it. I am delighted with the result which is written up in my embroidery blog.

From there I moved on to those Japanese fabric remnants I mentioned last week. I spent most of the weekend cutting, ironing, machining, threading drawstrings and adding stoppers to the drawstrings. The plan I had to visit the Australian Women Artists' Exhibition at the Art Galley went by the board. I now have 21 lovely bags ready to contain gifts when occasions arise. Again, details in my embroidery blog.

In between, I gave my eyes a bit of a break by knitting another Scales of Justice Beanie. I now have ten ready for next year's walk.

Yesterday the herbal insect-repellants I ordered from Bell Art arrived. I want to make sure these beanies survive the ten months to the next Walk for Justice. They are now stashed in this bag with a couple of Kakadu Plum repellant blocks protecting them.

By Saturday my Adelaide family had all recovered from their encounter with COVID so I had a very relaxed evening with those not at an 18th birthday party. 

I woke yesterday with a sore throat and, in view of the upcoming WES meeting and all the effort that's gone into swapping and preparing my Celtic presentation, I was mildly panicked. Would I have to cancel?

Before 6am I was attempting to administer a Covid test to my self in bed. Unsurprisingly, the test didn't work. Around 8 I got up and administered a test properly, getting a negative result. I made myself a hot lemon drink with honey, and settled to read and advance the left-over Rowan wool shawl I started last year. I drank tea rather than coffee throughout the day. In the afternoon I ventured to the Chemist to purchase a test kit for Covid, RSV and Flu A & B. To my relief, the test was negative for all of them. It seems I have at worst, a head cold.

I have stayed inside all day today, drinking more hot lemon, tea and soup. I have an occasional cough and sneeze but my throat is less sore, so I'm hopeful I'll be OK for tomorrow. I have had a coffee this afternoon, so must be on the mend.

I also retrieved the Scwalm masterpiece I began in Carol Mullan's workshop in May. I have never tried Schwalm. We made and traced templates on to our linen. I hsd drawn myself a flannel flower and begun to outline the leaf in coral knots. Today I completed the coral knots around the whole thing, 

I am now about to work a row of chain stitch inside the coral knots. After that, I need to consult the book (also acquired at the workshop). 

It's a bit hard on the eyes, so I will alternate with knitting - that's after more lemon and checking my Celtic Embroidery PowerPoint.

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.