Post 481 Dinners, delays and repairs

Wednesday did not go as I had expected. I was part of a small Guild team booked to teach a 2 hour Come & Try embroidery class at the Prospect Library at 10.00am. These classes have been suspended during COVID and this was to be our first resumption. As I opened my door to leave, I found a notice on the doorstep to say the abseiling painters would be using high-pressure hoses today to wash down the back balconies ready to start painting. The notice had apparently been there for 24 hours, but I hadn't opened the door on Anzac Day. I had to rush back in to shift the cane chair, pegs and tools back inside off the balcony. Fortunately I had, for once, allowed sufficient time to find the library (recently moved) and park, so still arrived well before 10. 

We were well organised - kits, needles, scissors, threads, instructions all set out and ready. When no students had arrived by 10.10, library staff were apologetic, mildly critical that we hadn't charged anything ("if they have to pay something, they turn up") and promised to look back in before 10.30, the time we had decided we would give up.  At 10.25 we packed up, and at 10.30 vacated the room and headed for a coffee shop. As we were leaving two girls turned up with their mothers - they had bookings for our 10.30 class!  Crossed wires somewhere along the line. We gave the two girls kits with instructions to take away. Looks as if we need to establish better communication with library personnel for the future. 

I arrived home just before the abseiler wielding a hose landed on my balcony. I had a good conversation with him before he set to with his hose. Because my balcony is the most complex (=Vergola), it will be the last one painted - probably in a week's time. He also told me they are the only abseiling painting team in Adelaide at the moment. It has rained on and off all week so more delays likely.

Thursday also had a couple of twists and turns. I had a hairdressing appointment at 11, which went well as far as hair goes (it even turned out to be a free cut on my loyalty card!) but the receptor on my hearing aid broke as I went to put it back in my ear before leaving so I drove straight to the audiologist and left it to be repaired before heading to Pilates. It was ready to pick up on my way home - relieved, $85 poorer but able to hear properly and relax over a long and exceedingly pleasant dinner at friends' place that night.

Autumn is now really here. On Friday I worked on the St Brigid jumper as much as I could, stopping only to walk around the block around 2.30pm and calling in at the local pub for a quick, slightly disappointing meal. I eschewed chips.  The calamari was OK but the salad too chilli and inadequate.   

Still,  I did get 14 rows of the jumper done - the most yet in one day.

I slept well that night, but woke to find I had rolled onto my glasses during the night and broken the arm. Luckily I have a spare pair but I took them to the optometrist later in the morning. They needed a new arm, and there are no longer spare matching arms in Adelaide, though there was one whole frame (now discontinued) which the supplier offered at half-price. In the end I accepted that and I picked up the revamped pair this morning.

Since the optometrist is not far from Centennial Park, after dropping off the glasses on Saturday, I went to walk around and to visit Jim's gravesite. It is always restful, bird noise and native blooms. The grevillea are out and attracting bees.The succulents I planted are spreading beautifully. 

 

A couple of weeks ago there was  a reunion of the first Year 12 students he taught in South Australia.  It seems they talked much of him. 

I am finally able to look at photos of him. I have thought a lot lately about mortality, how our lives are shaped, the relationship of the living and the dead. I don't have answers  (I'm not sure I'm looking for them) I still mourn and the loss remains. I am also, however, aware of Jim, my parents, my grandparents strengthening me on my journey.  Deo gratias. 

Meantime, it was fabulous to catch up with family for dinner on Saturday night and hear all about their Sydney trip, which, by all accounts, was a resounding success. I later heard my brother's version - which accorded in every detail. He is now busy with an upcoming exhibition of some of his paintings of Sydney Harbour.

My new cleaner was meant to start today but there was a glitch. Hopefully tomorrow. 

I spent 3 hours this afternoon at CMI Toyota while my car was serviced. Their excellent coffee machine was not working. I count on drinking their excellent coffee while waiting, but had to make do with flavoured milk. I had taken some lunch, so got by - and did about 9 rows of a St Brigid sleeve. I finished the back yesterday and wrote it up in my embroidery blog . The sleeve is an nice change in its shaping and pattern management. 

I finished today with a thanksgiving dinner with my neighbours. Theo is recovering well from his pacemaker operation, and tonight he and Di took Maureen and Russell from the floor below, and myself, to dinner to thank us for our help in Theo's hospitalisation - quite unnecessary, but a pleasant, happy and joyful occasion. And Theo's looking great. As I suspected, he is chaffing at the 6 week ban from playing tennis. Given he will be 87 later this month, that's worthy of thanksgiving.

Post 490 I didn't burn the Anzac biscuits!

Today is Anzac Day, always significant in the Australian calendar. It is a public holiday and marked by Dawn Services and marches in cities and towns. I have always marked it, in spite of misgivings about the glorification of war and our involvement in particular conflicts.

My mother always made Anzac biscuits - made with oats and Golden Syrup, reputedly so they would keep on the long journey from Australia to France for soldiers in WWI. I make them too, in memory and habit. I'm inclined to forget things in the oven and have sometimes burnt them. Badly. Not today!

My brother and I exist because of WWII. Our father was a Leading Torpedo Man on HMS Formidable and met our mother in Sydney in May/June 1945 while the Formidable was being repaired after a kamikaze hit in the Indian Ocean.  They wrote to each other when the Formidable left for Japan, where it was anchored as the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were reunited briefly in August 1945 while the Formidable was refitted before heading to Manilla to pick up Prisoners of War. My father's role changed to projectionist, showing films to entertain the POWs on the return journey to Sydney, where he chose to be demobilised and married our mother on 5 January 1946. I have the 52 letters they exchanged in their 6 month courtship from ship to shore.

Ted Ray, WWI Salonica & France, Jim Haynes WWI France, 
Len Haynes WWII, Atlantic, Nth Sea, Mediterranean, Pacific,
Lionel Dellit RAAF, Died over Timor Sea 22May1944.

Although he marched on ANZAC Day for many years - usually with my Uncle Sid and his mates from HMAS Australia - he had no truck with war or nationalism, and late in his life expressed shame and regret that he and his shipmates had cheered when they heard that the bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, telling me sadly. "We didn't understand". That, it seems, is the problem - and the wisdom of those we served . War is a complex business. Fortunately, Anzac events now include veterans of many countries and cultures - including those who fought against Australian forces. 

I pay tribute to veterans, their response to a duty call, their sacrifice, acknowledging what we owe them - and to the leaders who work to avoid a repeat. 

Katherine, Anthony, Niamh and Veronica have been in Sydney over the long weekend on a well-earned break, staying in a hotel with a view over the War Memorial (which was designed by Bruce Dellit, Jim's 1st cousin twice removed), visiting sites, attending ballet and theatre and catching up with family.  Yesterday they visited my parents' graves.

I spent much of the weekend at the Guild. Saturday was a Certificate Course Workshop on Leftkara and Sunday was the second day of Christine Bishop's Pulled Work Mat class. Leftkara was challenging, to say the least, mostly because we began by trying the original method of cutting first, embroidering second. Once we moved to the more contemporary method of stitching first, cutting second, it became manageable. The damage, however was done. I am pleased to have attended and tried it out, but for once I am not planning to make anything of it. I shall keep it as a sample of my learning.  

The mat, however, is another matter. During the week I worked out the parameters of my mat - adjusting the given thread counts for the linen I was using. I worked a bit of the border to get it right. At the workshop I filled in quite a bit of the tricky reverse faggot stitch. It's satisfying and looking promising. I am itching to finish it, but resisting, in order to progress the St. Brigid jumper. 

The weather has been lovely. The Guild garden is looking good.  I took some photos of the cotoneaster out the front, now at it's best.  

The berries are 1-2cm across.            

There is also a ground cover grevillea in the front garden looking ready to be incorporated into an embroidery design.                

On my balcony, the aloe is blooming again, lovely shapes in the flower, also tempting as a design.    

Rain is forecast tomorrow and for the next week, so I did the washing - just remembering to hang out the last load late today. A stiff breeze got up a couple of hours ago, and it's now dry (10.30pm). 

I had planned to knit for hours this weekend - all day today - to get close to the 200 rows in the back of St Brigid. I thought I might get to 180 rows. Unfortunately, I got distracted today by this post and the ANZAC connection. I went looking for the photos and text of my father's war service that I had incorporated in a book I put together for my father's 90th birthday in 2009. I've been meaning for ages to track down the book and the digital copies of the photos for family history purposes. It took me several hours to find and download them, but it's done.. 

I have just finished 160 rows. It is sometimes slow going, demanding concentration, especially in the central panel. It is, however, looking good. It is now 50cm and there is about a metre of yarn left on the fourth ball. My calculation is holding. I'd like to finish the back this week - but I may not quite make it. I have quite a few commitments but as far as I can, I will stick to my knitting. I shouldn't need to water the plants. 

Post 489 Done is better than perfect

 

Wednesday was World Embroidery Study Group, when Keryn talked to us about her 2012 trip to the Sub-continent, visiting villages in the Ralli area, to investigate the making of Ralli quilts. She had many adventures and with difficulty got access to the women who make the quilts, whose lives were largely cloistered. She brought along many of the quilts she bought under her own Fair Trade policy.

It was a lively meeting, and the 13 or so present loved it.

It is a great group, tolerant and supportive. Several members are caring for partners or parents, or dealing with their own health issues.  A lot of shared understanding. 

Back on the balcony front, the abseiling painters have still not arrived. I have used the clothesline and moved the plants, pegs and chair back on to the balcony. Today I moved the hose from my bath back to the balcony. It has rained quite a bit but not enough to keep the Almanda Blue wet. It has done so well over Summer and it's precious.

My Bali wall plaques remain creepily covered. I may yet wake one morning to a pressure hose against the glass. 

I visited Bunnings after Pilates on Thursday to buy a tin of paint. I'm going to repaint the two cane chairs on my balconies - hopefully after the abseiling finishes. I bought a few replacement plants - and a lovely pot of bulbs which perfume the whole apartment living area. 

I'm making progress - though slow - on the St Brigid jumper. I have now completed 90 of the 200 rows in the back. Two balls got me through 80 rows so I'm hopeful I have enough wool. If the back and the front each take 5 balls, will each sleeve need more than 3 balls? The sensible thing is to knit a sleeve when I finish the back. I will hold my nerve till then.

I paid a visit to The Yarn Trader on Thursday, to buy a metal cable needle. I bought a couple of shapes, but this one is proving most efficient. It's long enough not to slip off and smooth enough not to catch. The plastic ones with ridges were slowing me down.

I now have a simpler chart count. 

I can remember the edging chart and the basic cable chart that goes between the three cable patterns, so I only need to follow in detail the three complex panels. I'm finding it easier on a metal board with a magnetic strip even if it takes up more space.

Sunday was the first day of a two day course at the Guild, Christine Bishop's Pulled Work Mat and Pincushion. I enjoy her courses and thought I might make this into a table mat. It required 30 count Belgian linen, which I could not find in Adelaide. I had left it too late to buy from interstate, but wasn't too worried because Christine has an extraordinary supply of linen which she often brings along.  I was out of luck. Luckily I took along a back-up piece of 28 count linen.  I started on the back foot, because I hadn't completed the tacking - which was substantial. 

I managed to catch up and complete one square by the end of the class.  

 

In positioning the first square I had not allowing for the reduced thread count and a selvage, so have had to adjust some of the internal spaces in laying out the whole mat. I spent much of yesterday finishing the tacking and working out the complete layout. I've now got it under control, ready for the second day of the class next Sunday. Some lapel pins I had ordered arrived yesterday while I was working on this. I think I might make this my motto!

It is now school holidays, so no Monday dinner here. Veronica, Niamh, Fionn and I had brunch yesterday at the Queen St Cafe. Fionn and I had the trade mark lime milkshake. Veronica had haloumi with asparagus, pesto and poached egg, Niamh French toast with poached fruit and cream, Fionn a burger and I smoked salmon the scrambled eggs. All delicious. I think Niamh's won on visual appeal.

Today I paid a quick visit to an exhibition of Persian Embroidery by Akhtar Esmail-Zadeh at the North Adelaide Community Centre. Akhtar is an extraordinary embroiderer who gave a talk to the WES group a few years ago. 

Although glad I went,  I was a little disappointed. Most of the works are behind glass, and displayed above eye level, which produces glare. It's still worthwhile seeing, both in terms of overall design impact and her  individual stitches. Two large embroideries are mounted without glass.

My neighbour came home from hospital this morning after his pacemaker fitting yesterday (on their wedding anniversary!). He seems spritely, as usual.  He is supposed to refrain from playing tennis for 8 weeks, but I will be surprised if he can wait.

The sunset on their wedding anniversary was brilliant, and possibly visible from his hospital room, though I doubt he was awake to see it. 

I hope  they enjoy many more.

Post 488: All about Easter.

Easter dominated the week. Panayoula and I had coffee on Wednesday and much of the afternoon was spent clearing my back balcony for the abseiling painters, who, I was assured in an email, were going to start work on Maundy Thursday.

When (predictably) they failed to materialise,  I went shopping at Frewville for enough supplies to get me through the long weekend. It wasn't overly busy, and the shelves were very well stocked.  By all accounts this was not the case on Saturday, the only suburban shopping day in the 4 day long weekend. 

Back at home I made some gingerbread rabbits, and moved the chair and plants back out on to the balcony for the weekend. By the time the sunset on Thursday I was pretty relaxed.

On Good Friday I spent a few hours preparing my Glazig presentation for next months WES Group - and I made my chocolate crackle nests for Easter Sunday before heading to Katherine's place for an afternoon tea of her excellent hot cross buns.

Saturday was a bit of an adventure. My cleaner came at 8.30. He has arthritis in his back and has been advised to give up his part-time cleaning job. He hasn't quite decided, but I suspect it is only a matter of time. 

Just after 9.30 I headed off to an OTR carpark on Marion Rd - about 15 minutes drive- to pick up a Dobosh Torte I had ordered. The only bakery now making these in Adelaide is online. I haven't used them before so was a bit cautious. I was a few minutes early and rang them to check all was well. They don't usually deliver on Saturdays, but had made a special effort. The cake arrived 5 minutes after my phone call. Whew! It was home and safely stowed in my fridge in time for me to head to Grange for lunch and Sit'nStitch.

It is well and truly Autumn in Adelaide. The beach was windy, overcast and the water choppy. Around the corner in Carrington Street the leaves are falling. There has been more rain than usual and mild sunsets.

Fionn had his mates around for a birthday celebration on Saturday night, so I stayed at home. I cooked some chicken livers for my dinner - a dish I often cook for visitors, but have recently realised works quite well for one person. The trick is in getting fresh chicken livers which I have previously always done from the Central Market. Frewville, however, sometimes have them, fresh and packaged in 500 gram lots, enough for 2 meals for me. So I indulged myself.  It meant I didn't eat fish on Good Friday, but since the original idea was fasting, I don't feel wedded to that tradition.

Easter Sunday lunch was, as has become another tradition, a family gathering at Katherine and Anthony's place. Katherine is missing from the photo because it is courtesy of her, the photographer. Anthony's pork was about perfect as were Katherine's array of vegetables.

Dessert was the Dobosh Torte, nests and eggs. 

This red mandevilla was an Easter gift. It looks splendid on the front balcony. I now have 4 in various colours. The one I almost killed during February has responded to being cut back and is shooting. It will be at least a year before it makes this kind of sunset display.

I also had a long talk to my brother.

My stitching time this week has almost entirely been taken up with getting started on the St Brigid jumper. The detail is in my embroidery blog. There have been times when I thought I have at last bitten off more than I can chew, but I think the rhythm is beginning to emerge. It may not, however, be finished for the start of winter! So far I haven't managed more than 6 rows in a day. I need to get that up to around 20. 

This morning there was some evidence of painters on the roof - presumably installing their anchor points for abseiling down the building. There has been, however, no sign of any further activity.  My balcony is as clear as it is going to be  and the chair  and a couple of plants are back inside.

It is raining on and off, and rain is forecast for most of the week, so  I am not holding my breath for abseiling painters. Good for knitting, though. 

I had a podiatrist appointment this morning and afterwards paid a visit to Officeworks. Last week they advertised some embroidery kits that made me curious. They are certainly expanding their craft range - possibly picking up where other chain stores are declining. I thought the two hoop kits might prove useful as patches, covering the zip holes on some of my affected tops. The muslin bags, I thought, might be dyed and embroidered as gift bags and I was simply intrigued by the little oval blackboards that can be pegged to things.  Toys that will not distract me from knitting.

Greek Easter is coming up this weekend. It is decades since I have tried making koulourakia, the traditional Greek Easter biscuits. I just might give it another try.  Christos anesti. Alithos anesti. 

Post 487 Plenty to celebrate

Today is Fionn's birthday. We celebrated last evening with his choice of dinner - his mother's Mulligatawny Soup and apricot cake. I contributed rice and popadoms.   

It was a lovely evening of sharing, celebrating a fabulous young man. I am so privileged to have him in my life.

We are still doing Covid candles - and I for one cannot see myself reverting to previous practice. Blowing over shared food for 70 or so years? Once I stopped to think about it ....

Daylight saving finished on Sunday morning and the extra hour included a morning chill that prompted me to change over to my winter quilt. There were sufficient hours of sunshine to wash the summer one and get it dry, so the symbols and the housekeeping aligned.

I did enjoy the last few days of 7.30 sunsets. It's a good time to take in the loveliness. It's now dark by 6.30pm.

It was a neighbourhood kind of week. I worked steadily all week on my Glazig project and treated myself to a late lunch after Pilates on Thursday at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart along the Square. It was a bit windy sitting outside, but still pleasant and the food is excellent. It's pleasing to see how much the jacarandas, planted a couple of years ago, have grown this summer.

I arrived home to a call for help from a neighbour who is booked into hospital for a pacemaker fitting in April. The online registration form sent by the hospital had discombobulated them. It took us 2 hours to complete the online forms. I was very happy to help. It was convivial and we had a few laughs. It concerns me, however, that such a complex process is expected of patients. Many would fall at the hurdle.

On Friday Susan and I assembled the hap stretcher. It was an easy, if slightly awkward process. We didn't, in the end, use it to block her shawl, which eventually blocked flat on the table without pins. We did, however, learn a great deal. The stretcher will work well with any shawl with two sides at, or close to, a right angle.  Fully extended, it is 2metresx2metres but it can be assembled in many smaller sizes. If you enlarge the photo, you will see four square holes along each side. These are the positions for reducing the size.

My back-up duty for JEMS on Saturday turned out to be an easy gig.  It was a small group of 4 students, enjoying each other's company. One used the sewing machine to assemble her cushion and insert a zip. The others needed little help.

My major stitching achievement for the week was to finishYah Zour, my Glazig project. I am delighted with the result, which is detailed in my embroidery blog. I feel as if I am in the swing of this now, and might work a couple of small samples for my May WES presentation.

I am now concentrating on Brigid's jumper - a cable fantasy which will challenge me until I am into a rhythm with the 5 charts that are repeated in a sequence of 7 across each row. A day of so should get me into the rhythm.

Yesterday we had information that the abseilers engaged to undertake the much delayed painting of the western wall of our apartment block, including balconies, will begin their work at 7.30am this Thursday. I am sceptical, given the following day is Good Friday - but I will still have to clear the balcony in case (sigh). 

        

Also related to Easter, yesterday morning two young women buzzed my apartment. When I answered, one explained, My friend and I are inviting everyone to a party tomorrow. It's free. Can we leave an invitation in your letterbox?.  Having no interest at all in parties, but  being polite, and assuming they were locals preparing neighbours for noise, I agreed. 

The invitation turned out to be a Jehovah's Witness Easter Memorial Service some 12km away! Both ethically and theologically dodgy!

I hope your Easter experience is peaceful, personal, profound - and honest!