Post 204 Another Day of Doves and Scanning

It began as an overcast day with the threat of rain. I put out some seed in anticipation of  doves. Around 9,30am a young dove arrived and rushed around consuming the seed. The breast on this dove was dark. Mostly it is pink. I was not sure if this was a newcomer. He/she stayed long enough to eat about half the seed, alert and checking for sound all the time, then flew away.

Within minutes, three birds arrived. I have never seen three doves here at once. Two were small and young. 

One was huge - and fat.

Although the three had arrived together, and began pecking the seed, the fat bird gently herded one of the young ones off the balcony

and then stayed as sentry while the other young bird fed.  Eventually they left together as the wind got up and brought a little rain squall









The fat bird returned a while later. As I watched he became less puffy - and more familiar. I gently opened the door, opened the seed container and distributed more seed. He stayed, less than a metre from me, and began eating the seed. It was Turtle.


By now the wind was quite wild. The air was full of leaves and dust. He puffed up again and moved to a sheltered spot behind a pot plant, out of the wind. He sheltered here until there was a lull when he moved to the rail and took off.

I don't know what is going on here. I did a bit of reading. Puffing up/ putting on weight can indicate either illness or cold. While it wasn't particularly cold today, the wind was unusually strong for Adelaide. Storm damage was reported across Adelaide. Hopefully that explains it.
As for the 'mentoring' of at least one young bird, that Turtle seems to be doing, I can find no reference. Doves mate for life, so it seems unlikely he is trading Myrtle in for a younger model.I can find no reference to doves supporting their young in any way once they have fledged, so at the moment it remains a mystery.


I am becoming a dove obsessive - for which I apologise.

I tore myself away from my dove watching post to return to scanning photos. I had an idea that it might be easier to remove photos from the second 1970s album. Although it too had sticky pages it was not as substantial in either size or composition. I got a thin bladed butter knife and found I could, with great care, pry photos off the pages. It was slow work, but in about an hour and a half I managed to remove the 80 or so photos in the album.  The trouble was, in my concentration I lost track of the time and was 13 minutes late for Pilates.

On my way home I stopped at Albox and bought another 10 sets of acid-free dividers. I am filing the scanned photos in acid-free photo boxes in decades, divided into either events or years and am chewing through dividers. Apparently most customers now want coloured dividers without tabs for labels. Their old stock is black, with tabs for labels, so they are happy to sell it to me.

I spent two and a half hours this afternoon scanning the removed photos through my new  FastFoto Scanner. Only five of the removed photos would not go through the scanner - two because some of the album page had stuck to the back of the photo which was then too thick, and three because some of the back of the photo had lifted. I will put these through the flatbed. The other 75 went through in batches at 600dpi. It is better quality than I get from the App.

Tomorrow I will have another look at the big 1970s album to see if the butter knife will help me to remove the photos. s

I went to friends' place for dinner tonight. It was lovely to catch up, relax and share a meal.  It's rejuvenating.

I did a bit of knitting but no embroidery. It seems I can't do everything!

Post 203 Days of Dove Lives and scanning

The young dove arrived this morning and began pecking very quickly at the seed. He (or maybe she) was very alert, pausing to listen every few seconds.









He ate about half the seed then hopped on to the rail and looked carefully in all directions.











While he was  on guard, 

another young dove arrived.



I think that the bird I have been calling 'the adolescent' is in fact two young birds.













They can be seen here - one on top of the balcony rail, on the flower box and the other on the lower rail

It was at this point that Myrtle arrived and scared them away.

I think I have a new pair of young doves interested in my balcony in competition with Myrtle and Turtle. Whether one of them is their offspring or not I can't tell, but it's quite likely.

Myrtle returned, briefly, and sampled the seed. The first young bird returned later still and gobbled a bit more. Still on alert.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out throughout Spring and Summer.

I looked for anymore 1980s photo albums without success. There are about 6-7 albums covering the 90s and two for the 70s. The earlier of these is a large one with sticky pages. I decided to start with this. Unfortunately, when I began to remove the photos, I was unable to do so without tearing the photos. The adhesive on the pages is very effective. The album has 50 double-sided pages, at least 600 photos that will not go through my new scanner.  The options are to lay each page on the flatbed scanner or use an App.
I decided to try the PhotoScan App, just in case it had recovered and, lo! it worked! I managed to scan, over about two and a half hours, 155 photos before the App began to slow. I am hoping that if I rest it overnight it will revive again tomorrow and I will be able to use it to scan the album in 4 batches.
I don't think any of the other albums will present the same problem, and I will be able to return to my super scanner for the others.

I did not get to enjoy much of the warm sun today but it is much more pleasant to be indoors scanning when the sun is shining in ( at 27C, not 46!). I had promised to do some research for my brother earlier in the week, so used the App crash to move to that. Still chasing some information, but have made a good start.


This evening I had to choose between Lewis and Midsomer Murders to progress my Caterina inner row. I've seen both so could focus on counting threads while listening and occasionally glancing at the screen. Lewis won, but I caught the end of Midsomer Murders.

I'm still making mistakes and either unpicking or compensating, but I'm pleased with the progress.

Rain is forecast on most of the next seven days, so a good thing I washed bed linen yesterday and my clothes today.

Post 202

The young adolescent dove tried twice this morning to feed on the seed on my balcony. The first time he managed quite a few minutes, eating seed, drinking, all the time alert, finally taking a position on the rail and scanning the scene.  Soon Myrtle arrived and adopted the same chasing behaviour that Turtle exhibited the other day complete with the three note call. They young bird persevered for a bit but was herded off the balcony.

The same thing happened half an hour later but was much quicker.




Another half an hour or so later Myrtle returned, followed by Turtle and they shared the bounty.





My plan today was to take this lace bodice to the Guild, to see if the Museum would be interested in it. It was given to my late husband's mother by his Great Aunt Gladys Lilian Dellit - who was a Home Economics teacher in Melbourne from around 1902 to 1955,  I think Gladys made the bodice which is designed to attach to a dress by a press stud.

Museum volunteers were photographing items from the collection, so I filled out a form and left it for the acquisions group to look at and discuss.




From there I went to OfficeWorks to look at enquire about the photo scanner which Choice says is the best on the market. At $A648 it is also the most expensive by a mile. It scans batches of up to 35 photos at a time.

It took me a while to find it, even with the help of an assistant, who needed to look it up. Clearly not a popular item. It turns out to be the machine that OfficeWorks uses in their Printing department to scan and print photos. The assistant assured me I could return it, with the receipt, within 30 days after trying it. With that fall-back, I bought it.

Throughout the day I was receiving phone calls from Jennifer, who had read about this great but expensive photo scanner and was thinking of buying.......We swapped information and both decided to buy.


Back at home after dropping soft plastic recycling at Woolworths Unley, I set up the scanner. The connection was pretty easy. The instructions were sparse but adequate. It took me a while to work out where the files will be stored and backed up on my laptop.

I played with it for 3 hours in which time I set it up and scanned 235 photos. I thought I was scanning at 1200 dpi but realised later it had defaulted to 300.Clearly something I need to check. I did some rudimentary organising as I went along, setting up some shared folders.

It goes against the grain for me to buy an expensive scanner when I have an operating flatbed scanner. However, I have several thousand photos to scan and this is a very efficient machine with 12 years of improved technology. The flatbed is slow

Once I got going, this was pleasurable to work with. It's also compact. I finished scanning the second 1980s album. There must be more from the 1980s somewhere. I can think of some that are missing. I'm actually looking forward to scanning more now. A day ago I was dreading it!


I'm tired tonight, but relaxed with the Caterina project. I have finished the second round of the outer pattern.



Now for the first round of the inner pattern.As you can see, I have begun the first pass of the inner row

Post 199

I read a few more chapters of The Bird Way this morning, the section on Play, which deals mainly with ravens and Kea, both of whom display extensive, but different, play behaviour. I think the author would have benefitted from discussions with early childhood educators.

I stopped reading to finish the first round of the Caterina embroidery project.  I did quite a bit of unpicking. It is so easy to make a one thread error on such loose weave fabric. I’m quite excited about the next stage of this, which amounts to whipping to fill in the gaps between the running stitches.

My major goal for the day was to get a start on scanning the rest of my 1980s photos. It took me more time than I’d hoped to work out how to operate the flatbed scanner with the new operating system on my laptop. It’s a bit of a messy process, even without the challenge of software and storage.

I eventually got 35:photos scanned from one of our Heysen trail walks and a visit Tom the Great Ocean Road.

It takes longer to scan using the flatbed than it did with the PhotScan App but the result is better.

I have been researching the most recent scanners. Choice  recommends a batch scanner which retails in Australia for around $660. It does sound efficient although there are a few reports of jamming and quality lower than traditional flatbeds. It’s tempting when there are several thousand photos to scan.



On balance I decided to continue with the one I have and see how I go.

There was lots of bird noise around this afternoon but I didn’t see the perpetrators. The ‘black’ geranium has enjoyed the rain which got heavier as the day wore on. It looks like a wet day tomorrow.

Dinner at Katherine and Anthony’s tonight. Both Katherine and I got a bit of knitting done

I managed a little test of the second round on the Caterina project.

I’m not at all sure I don’t prefer it without the gaps filled! 

Post 198 Laptop, scanner, Yeh!

It didn’t go below 28C overnight last night. In my Sleepy Merino pyjamas, even though they are supposed to be comfortable in Summer as well as Winter, I think this might apply to the regular 100gsm products, not to the 200 gsm nightshirt I was wearing.  Consequently I opened my blind at sunrise.

The young dove arrived , but is too nervous to stay if I open the door. I put out some seed and he/she returned a bit later to sample it.

I was due to pick up Jennifer for SitnStitch at 12.30 . I rang the Apple Centre at Norwood late in the morning to check how they were going with my computer and scanner. They were still working on it. As I wanted it for this blog tonight, I either had to pick it up before I picked up Jennifer, or late this afternoon after I’d dropped her home. When they rang me around midday to say it was ready I rushed off to get it - much better than having it on my mind all afternoon and a deadline at the end of the day.

It delayed me picking up Jennifer  by 25 minutes,. The laptop is tidied up,  has an up to date operating system and connects to the scanner. Yeh!  The staff were helpful and took care to explain what had been done and how to use the new interface.  It’s a relief to have it back and working. I’ll try the scanner out tomorrow.

Susan made cheese scones again - fabulous! There was lots to catch up on. Jennifer is getting about a bit. She is still having dizzy spells . She worked today on cutting out the background fabric to mount her COVID embroidery. It’s going to look amazing.

When I got home, three young men were exercising in the Square. One was practising tight-rope walking on a band stretched between two trees about a metre off the ground. He got on to it by jumping from the ground. He fell off a lot, but kept practising until he stayed on and kept going.









The lorikeets were out in force in the evening. The trees are beginning to bud, obviously very attractive to the nectar-seeking birds.












Now I have my laptop back I can publish a couple of the shots I took yesterday of the Rosella.

The succulent flowers are also coming along nicely.

As I’ve been writing this I’ve been (half) watching Gardening Australia which ran a story on the stobie pole art in Rosetta St . I wasn’t fast enough to photograph the screen. For those not in South Australia, stobie poles are an Adelaide invention. Because there was not much timber in Adelaide, a man named Stobie invented replacement for wooden telegraph poles, by using two discarded railway tracks with concrete between them.

In the 1980s community projects engaged artists to paint the poles.  The practice continues. Gardening Australia covered the poles and the community plantings in the streets streetscapes of the Charles Sturt Council area.

Altogether, a productive and satisfying day. I progressed my knitting  and the Caterina mat but not enough to take photos. My early start is catching up with me!

Post 195 Mostly photos

Today's goal was to buy photo archive boxes and begin to organise the photos I am scanning. I had found the boxes online at a company called Albox, in Manton St Hindmarsh, not far from where we lived for 30 years.

I drove past it at first. It is buried in a complex under the (literal) banner of Signarama - a franchise of sign makers. Preview plastics is also located there.  Compatible businesses.

The polypropylene box is what I had hoped, and they also make polypropylene dividers.

The reception area of the complex is full of signs - mostly about about Covid. This seems to be another of the minority of industries whose products have been in demand as a result of the pandemic.








I bought four boxes and four sets of dividers to get me started and enable me to work out what I will need.

From there I went to Norwood to pick up the last two books I had ordered for last week's birthdays.

While there were people about, and the car park pretty full, it did not seem crowded.



The weather was dull and overcast,  nowhere near as warm as yesterday.





Back at home I labelled dividers for the 203 photos I have scanned so far and placed them in a box to see how much space they occupied. They take up no more that 20% of the box, so I think the box will hold at least 1000 photos.

Next I went through all my photo albums and sorted them, putting sticky labels on the spine to help me. As I expected, there is another whole album covering the 80s.  Since I began here I have opted to scan this album next.  I removed all its photos   - about 310 in all.

I think I can cull some of these as I go. Some scenic shots, and the terrible photos of birds I attempted to take can go. There are, however, many memories amongst these photos. There are also a couple of documents that I will need to accommodate.

So I calculate this first box will hold at least two decades- but will chew up the dividers.

Now I can dispose of two albums.


I set the photo organising and scanning aside when the sun set and shifted to embroidery. I realised tonight that the name 'Serenity' which appears on the cover of Inspirations along with this project, refers to the Issue and not this project, which is called Caterina. I need to amend my blog post references to it.

I am beginning to get the hang of Caterina. It requires constant checking of thread counts and the relationship of each part, but it's possible to do this as you go.

I'm encouraged by completing the first round of the outside row for one quadrant - essentially a quarter of the stitching for one quarter of the mat!

Tomorrow the World Embroidery Study Group meets to discuss Icelandic Embroidery- should be interesting.

Post 194 Warm and windy

I went shopping at Frewville this morning for bread and a few snacks for the kids this afternoon. They had Australian grapes - not sure where from. I'm guessing Stanthorpe in Queensland. They look fabulous.















It was very warm and windy - a good drying day as my mother would have said. I washed all my merino trousers, possum wool socks and a jumper. I tried to capture them blowing around, but without a lot of success. It was good to open the apartment up and get a breeze right through.

The daisy I bought the other day is opening up beautifully. I love the pointy petals as the flowers first open. So crisp.


Niamh came around 1pm from the orthodontist where she'd had her bands fitted and the others arrived singly throughout the afternoon. Very relaxing for me.

I scanned most of the rest of the 1980s photo album - adding 69 more. I have about half a dozen left to scan, ring-ins that don't belong to the 1980s. The app is proving successful. It doesn't have an edit function for improving the quality of photos so that needs to be done separately.

I phoned an archival box manufacturer in Adelaide this afternoon and they have the photo storage boxes I want so I shall call there tomorrow. In the meantime, however, I can dispose of one empty photo album!

I did not get out of bed this morning when the coo-ing started, but I did put seed down as soon as I was up.

Turtle visited this afternoon and devoured quite a bit. He seems to have a feather out of place - or ruffled - but behaved normally.

This evening I managed to work another pattern repeat on the Serenity project. It is still tricky and requires concentration.  Fortunately I have seen (at least once) the episode of Midsomer Murders I've been watching at least once and can afford to concentrate on the stitches!





It will, I think, get a bit quicker and easier but it will never, I think, be automatic or easy. Very interesting though.

The temperature only reached 29C today, lower than predicted. It is nearly 11pm and still 25C. Tomorrow however, is predicted to only reach 19C.  Fine by me!