Post 190 Books, Birds and Birthdays

Today was full of photo opportunities, beginning with the dove summons. Myrtle flew off, but Turtle hung around for a while on the wall garden before adjourning to the roof for a bit. They made forays during the day to feast on the seed. There was building work next door, so perhaps they are getting bolder.












I had Pilates - good as usual - after which I called at the Guild to pick up a couple of library books.

I was pleased to find the Elsa Gudjonsson in the library. It is out of print and I had sourced the cheapest copy available for $A163.00  delivered. It is, I think, the Icelandic Embroidery Bible and very useful.  The pattern book is useful in a different way. It was last borrowed in 2013 and the Gudjonsson has, it seems, never been borrowed. I suspect that is about to change.

After getting home and examining the books, I set about scanning a photo album. I chose at random one covering much of the 1980s. There are photos of birthday parties, family visits

and our trip to Britain and Italy in December 1984.

I was going out this evening to a small birthday celebration in a restaurant. I planned to go early to get a park. As I was getting ready I noticed the lorikeets feeding on the trees behind the apartment so grabbed my camera. This is a sample of the photos.



There were about 8 lorikeets in all.



The Rosella held itself aloof - but was keeping an eye out.








The small cosy dinner turned into quite an event.  There was a 50th wedding anniversary celebration at the other end of the restaurant.




We'd been there about half an hour when the entertainment arrived - two accordianists who proceeded to serenade the happy couple with every Italian song popularised in English - and a good few more that didn't make it into Australia





We had Volare, It's Amore, Santa Lucia, Feniculi Fenicula, Quando, quando, quando, O solo mio,  - and Delilah!























There was a Covid Marshall in attendance - and no dancing. Our table was suitably distanced from the party and from other tables, but we got the sound and a little bit of the action when a waitress told the players there were two birthday celebrants on our table.  They of course, played Happy Birthday!




Quite an eventful and photoful day!

Post 189 : Jobs and friends

I'm adapting to the morning call of the doves alerting me to the need to put out some seed, even though there is some activity on the building site next door. This morning it was Myrtle who dropped in once I was back inside. She didn't stay long, but I'm encouraged by her presence and feeding.

Just as well she got in early. As the day progressed work intensified at the Eastern end next door, with a cement mixer filling the holes created by the large drill. 

I spent much of the day paying bills, changing passwords, gathering tax documents and answering emails. Late last night I figured out how to use the Icelandic bag.











My current knitting project, the 2ply shawl, fits perfectly. Even the colours work!







Here is the laid and couched work dragon that my friend Christine has been working on in London.

It is the result of an online workshop with Tanya Bentham. Christine bought the kit, which uses wool hand dyed by Tanya. The workshop consisted of a 90 minute video, pdf instructions and a Zoom meeting.

Tanya is a medieval embroidery specialist whose Opus Anglicanum blog I have followed for a while.

Her website has some brilliant kits.

I love Christine's dragon.

Late this afternoon I managed to catch up by phone with a Guild friend. As I brought the washing in the building work had ceased and  the Adelaide Rosella was surveying his kingdom before the sun went down.

This evening a friend commented on yesterday's blog post to say that the PhotoScan App by Google works for scanning her photo albums. I gave it a quick try and it seems to work. I tested it on a few photos from the 1980s including this one of our family holiday with friends. It worked a treat. It beats wrestling with the scanner.

Thanks Sue, and a big job coming up!

Progress on the shawl is slow but it's coming along. 2 ply and the rows are increasing, so it's bound to be slow. The ball has barely reduced in size!

Plenty of jobs left for tomorrow.

Post 188 Scanning and constructing

There was some early activity on the building site this morning so I was surprised to hear the doves coo-ing on the roof. Myrtle put in an appearance on my balcony rail, but flew away as soon as I tried to put out seed.

By the end of the day the seed was all gone, so the doves are still around.

I spent the morning at Jennifer's place discussing how to scan photo albums. Jennifer has even more albums than I do (which is saying something). Before I left my previous home I scanned a couple of albums and created printed photo books. I intended to do this for all the albums I have, but hadn't got to it.  It is a task Jennifer and I had agreed to encourage each other to do this year. I am having trouble at the moment connecting my flatbed scanner but couldn't do that either. I've also used a scanning app on my phone, but it works better for documents than for photos. I think I will need to either take my laptop and scanner to the Apple shop at Norwood or get in one of the Geeks on Call.

We had lunch on Jennifer's balcony. Their plants are thriving. This cyclamen is laden with flowers, and I loved the way the buds are folded up tightly - a bit like a parachute.

Back at home I stitched the edges of the Icelandic pouch together on the outside using long-armed cross stitch. It seemed the appropriate stitch and lends itself  to joining two edges.
Then I joined the edges in the lining, using machine thread.

















I had not intended to create this kind of opening, but the completed Helm of Awe circle suggested it to me.













It creates a kind of pouch-bag. In this case the circle sits over the opening and the endless knot fits perfectly on the back.












It needs a fastening. I decided on loops and a drawstring - such as was found on examples in historical collection of Icelandic clothing.

I created a twisted cord from all the Appleton's wools in the Endless Knot design.


The appropriate stops on the ends of the cord would have been an Icelandic lava bead, but I didn't have those, so I used bone buttons, which seemed in keeping.

I'm pretty pleased with the result. I've returned to my knitting for the remainder of this evening. Tomorrow I need to pay attention to some bills, organising my tax, solving the scanner puzzle,  reduce the backlog of emails in my inbox,read the articles I bought on Icelandic embroidery. and the books for September bookclub.


Or I could start the crewel work in my hoop.

Post 187 Lamb shanks

More loud coo-ing this morning.  This time Turtle sitting in the wall garden seemingly keeping guard while Myrtle ate the seed left from yesterday.  They didn't stay long, but by the end of the day all the seed had gone.




Today was family dinner and kids after school day. I planned to try cooking lamb shanks with potatoes in their jackets but needed a few more large potatoes. I browned the lamb shanks and got them into the oven for a bit before going to Coles at Norwood. I wanted to go to the bookshop there so easier to do both in one place.


Once home and organised I could embroider while the lamb shanks cooked.  I moved on to the fourth quadrant of the Icelandic Helm's Awe circle.







I did remember to take a photo of the lamb shanks as they came out of the oven, but after that was too preoccupied to think about photos. It was a very pleasant and relaxed afternoon with the girls and the meal worked.

I am slowly widening my Monday dinner repertoire!


I managed to finish the Helm's Awe Circle and to add the lining.








I had to adjust the size as I went along in order to get the best match of  design. I had not originally planned to join up the circle, but once I got to the construction it seemed a good idea.

I will need to do a bit of thinking and manipulating to get the best closure.















That, however, is a job for tomorrow.

Post 186 perching birds

The loud cooing began a couple of hours after dawn.

Turtle was back, on the balcony rail, pecking at the seed, but flying off before I could replenish it.








He was soon back but heading straight for my wall garden where he settled himself in one of the top planters, cooing for all he was worth.










He was soon joined by Myrtle. Now both were singing the same set of notes, over and over, he sitting in one bin, she in the next one. It was tricky to photograph from inside ( glad I had the windows cleaned!). If you look closely you can see Turtle on the left, head down in the bin and tail against the wall.

Neither were interested in seed. Neither made any effort to gather sticks or construct a nest . They just made a lot of noise.

Myrtle took off. Turtle stayed on for a bit, exploring the wall garden..


He didn't appear to be looking for food, nor was he hiding from a predator, and I don't think it was nesting behaviour.











 I am pleased to see them back, but I don't understand the behaviour.

I think I need to finish reading The Way of Birds.

It began as a grey day with cloud  cover over the Hills. The Hills appeared later in the day but the weather stayed much the same.

I went to North Adelaide to get more fruit and some meat for tomorrow. The butcher had crumbed Frenched lanb cutlets so I had a couple of those for my tea.

I'm still reading The Paper Bark Tree Mystery which I am enjoying.  I like Ovidia Yu's wisdom through Su Lin's commentary.

As for Asian culture, most of the people in Singapore were descended from those driven out of their original homeland by poverty or politics. They had not carried culture in their boats, only what they needed for survival. It was years later I realised the drive to survive is at the heart of Singapore culture. P187

 This one, How can we believe it happened if we don’t know what it was?. refers to the reported death of a much loved and respected police officer. It made me think about Covid denial,  how we dispel ignorance and also how we come to community knowledge of what it is. 

I haven't finished the book, because my Icelandic Endless knot took over.

I finished two of the quadrants of the Helm of Awe embroidery and moved on to the third. The latter is not quite finished,












This is getting easier as I go along.


I did promise to include Christine's Opus Anglicanum figure over the weekend. I haven't forgotten but am saving it for a day with less activity and bird drama.