Post 508 Mostly Pageantry

The big event in Adelaide this week was the Christmas Pageant. Initiated by a department store in 1933, when 8 floats and 4 bands accompanied Santa through the streets to the Store’s Magic Cave to begin the Christmas selling period. Each year floats and bands were added. Crowds grew, the State Bank joined the sponsorship, staff from the store and the bank worked on the floats, artists and community groups got involved and floats were stored between Pageants. In 1996, before it closed, the department store sold the Pageant to the State Government which continues it with sponsorship naming rights currently going to a pharmacy. It is a big event in Adelaide, held on the second Saturday in November, unless, as happens this year, that falls on Remembrance Day, when the pageant is moved forward a week, It was suspended from 1940-44 during WWII. In 2020 and 21, during COVID, floats and bands circled the Showground arena watched by 35 000 distanced in the stands. 

Last Saturday over 300 000, about a quarter of the population, lined the streets. Because JEMS meet at 1pm on the first and third Saturday of the month, it was a challenge for me. City streets are closed from 5am to 1pm. To pick Niamh up at 12.30pm I planned my route around the city. Unfortunately, my timing coincides with many of the spectators  leaving the city. This time my ring route was bumper to bumper most of the way and the 15 minute journey took 45 minutes. I’m not complaining. Pageant Day Rules OK.

Our journey from Niamh’s place to the Guild involves a right-hand turn from Port Road to South Rd from the West. As has happened before, our arrival at the turn coincided with the unpeopled floats exiting the city to return to their storage, making the diagonally opposite right hand turn from the East. As a safety precaution, all other traffic is halted, so I was able to photograph bits of the floats, not great photography, but you get the idea. 

The birds have kept me busy this week. The Rosella, whose sudden appearance last week took me by surprise just after I’d lamented its absence, came back again on Wednesday, keeping well inside the native Frangipani tree seemingly evading my camera. With patience I got several interesting shots.

Unable to curb my practical impulses, I stayed up until 2am on Friday morning, creating bookmarks and cards from some of the shots. Then, this morning, seduced by a couple more photos, I ordered more from another company.

Yes, I now have a lifetime supply of both cards and bookmarks. Will it stop me producing more? Probably not.

A bee that was on the balcony at the same time got a bookmark gig. Although it deserved a macro lens, the colours make up for it. 

The honeyeaters are still dominant. I am fascinated by the way they (and other birds) can turn their bodies so fluidly, as if they have no bones. One of them made the bookmark frenzy too.

The jacarandas have finally come into their own. The purple haze is now upon us and, on cue the complementary fortnight lilies have just finished blooming outside the apartment entrance.

During the week there was the usual car-shuffle for the cleaners, a late change to my Pilates time, a late lunch at the pub across the Square, an early morning visit from a neighbour with a phone crisis, and a couple of deliveries. I also visited the Christine McCarthy print exhibition at the Art Images Gallery. It’s a long time since I viewed her work. Some I liked a lot.

I didn't get to swimming  today due to a scheduled  5 hour major car service. I turned down the loan car and caught the city loop bus home and back again. I was walking from the bus to the dealer when the Melbourne Cup was run and didn't tune in. The service ended up taking 6 hours with a glowing report and a smooth ride home. They also provided me with a lifecycle report, which indicates I should stick with the car for several more years.

I managed to finish the shawl on Sunday. The icord cast-off took quite a while, but was worth it. I cut and stitched the steek. 

The shape doesn’t suit the hap stretcher and the size suggested  I needed to block it on my floor or buy more foam blocks (it spans more than 2 metres). My friend Margaret suggested I use my single king bed, so I gave it a go this afternoon- perfect fit, and, with a towel underneath, should not damage the bed.

The lacy edge has me a bit worried. I’m not sure it will sit flat on the wearer. I’m wondering if I should wire it.  Final detail will be in my embroidery blog by next week.  

Last week's success with fried rice inspired me to cook lemon chicken for Monday's dinner. I made it in a huge dish, then divided it into two. To one part I added Hokkien noodles, my usual method, and the other I left as is, for those who wanted it with fried rice, which I repeated based on last week’s success. More labour than usual, but I'm getting a bit more flexible with cooking as I get older! It hit the mark.

My neighbour revealed that her 80th birthday is next Tuesday. I'm wondering if I can manage something appropriate in the timeframe. 80 simple flying birds on a bag? Or a bookmark to mark each decade - that I could manage! 

Tomorrow's WES Group meeting seems to have come around quickly. Quite a bit of effort has gone into setting up and checking the projection - along with Plan B and Plan C. Here's hoping

Post 507 Adelaide Rosella calls

I had friends to lunch on Sunday, so spent much of Friday shopping and much of Saturday preparing. 

 

I cooked Peking Flavour Duck Breasts. I also planned to try a new potato dish for Monday night, and originally thought I'd use it for both meals, but realised Cheesy Potato Bake is hardly a fitting accompaniment to Peking Duck! 

I tried buying some fried rice from a takeaway in the Unley Shopping Centre, but it didn't appeal, so I gave in and made my own, boiling the rice on Saturday and leaving it spread out on a tray overnight in the fridge, then frying it all up the next day. It was, I'm happy to say, excellent. 

Over lunch I was bewailing the fact that while I had taken hundreds of bird photos, I hadn't seen a single Adelaide Rosella this year. Less than half an hour after my guests had left, I heard the telltale screech. I spent a long time holding my camera, unable to see the bird hidden in the leaves. When located,  it was a black shape against the sky. I snapped away, and was able to adjust the colour and light to triumphantly expose the rosella colour. I am grateful for the visitation, and regard it as a good omen for friendship and the journey my friends are about to take.

The jacarandas are still not as vibrant as other years, being a mixture of blossom, new growth and still-attached old leaves. It varies considerably across the city, but there is less full-purple impact this year. Happily, the young one the Council planted in the Square a couple of years ago are looking healthy.

As my friends were leaving on Sunday, a couple of men were searching a section of the Square with metal detectors, spring what they seemed to be digging up about a spade depth below the turf. Long lost items or buried treasure?  This morning I read a story of a family in Norway who found Viking burial items in their backyard, while searching for a lost earring.  I wonder what the men found in the Square.

We had a full complement on Monday night. The cheesy potato bake was a success alongside the honey soy chicken Maryland, but the left-over fried rice was too! Both will be on the rotation from now on. 

Last Wednesday I tripped getting out of the lift on my way back from collecting the mail. I'm still not sure whether the lift door was not level with the landing, or if I just stubbed my shoe, but the mail went flying and I fell heavily on my knees and left arm, across the foyer floor. I had trouble getting up, without putting all my weight on my knees. I managed to get myself across the floor to my door and use the handle as leverage to stand up. I could have called my neighbour, but was pleased to be able to manage myself. My knees and arm were bruised, but not enough to stop my doing Pilates the next day. I am paying more attention now as I exit the lift.

Honeyeaters dominate the balcony bird scene at the moment. Groups make swooping visits and zip around adjacent trees.

A couple of months ago, there was an appeal for buttons, to use on clothing being made for the Guild shop. 

This week my friend Vivienne sent me most of her significant button collection, some of which go back to at least the 1950s, probably earlier. I have saved a few for myself, including an addition to my Cat's Eye collection.  I also have buttons very similar to the white ones. I will deliver the remainder to the Guild next Thursday. It's so satisfying to be part of this continuity of recycling. Buttoned across time and place.

The cards I've had printed all arrived during the week. I won't reveal my Christmas card just yet.

The bookmarks  are everything I hoped for. The backs are blank so I can use them as gift cards.

Aquafit again today. Two safety pins largely tamed the floating skirt on my swimming costume. 

 

I have reached a milestone with the alpaca shawl. I am now knitting the lacy top border. only 14 rows to go, about 6,670 stitches. 

Not that I'm counting.

Post 506 A is for Almanda and Aquafit, B is for blue, birds, bug, and bunny , C is for cards and concerts, but F is for family, friends and food

I got several jobs ticked off on Wednesday. I met with my accountant to lodge my tax return in the morning, a pleasant exercise in his new premises. On the short drive home my phone was ringing to signal the postman wanted access to leave a parcel. Bluetooth isn't working in my car so I couldn't answer. However I got home in time to park on the street and chase him down the road for the parcel! 

An hour later, when  the cleaners arrived, I moved my car inside so they could have my space in the street. In the late afternoon I went to Unley to pick up a couple of things I'd ordered in the Taking Shape sale - and I bought a swimming costume that fits! Several years of not swimming had left me with one that I can barely wriggle into and one that threatens to float off in the water. Now I'm set.  

By the end of the day, my tax return was ready for checking and signing electronically, and is now lodged.

It was a relief to have a  leisurely morning on Thursday. The weather had warmed up to 31C, the apartment was clean and quiet. The Almanda Blue that Cathy gave me a couple of years ago is thriving and developing its customary tiny blue flowers. The runners are just reaching over the rim of the pot, so I'm hopeful it will now begin to spill over the pot and form its characteristic hang. And yes, I need to do a bit of weeding! I'm curious to see what the intruders develop into.

After Pilates I picked up the greeting cards I had printed at Officeworks.  I am pleased with them. 

One has an unwanted band at the bottom where I obviously failed to match the photo to the border. I can use it to stamp or write a greeting, so I’m not concerned.

The landscape one is my favourite but I’m pleased with all of them.        

Last week I took out a 4 play subscription to the State Theatre Company's 2024 Season, choosing matinee sessions for all 4. The Ukaria concert program for the first half of next year also arrived, with bookings opening at 9am on Friday. Lorraine called on Thursday night with her choices. We have booked for 5 Sunday afternoon concerts between March and July. It looks as if I am venturing out into the world again (but not yet taking up all invitations!). I am not taking up the invitation to the 60th anniversary of my old high school cohort in Sydney next month. I would probably have made the effort to get to Sydney had my bestie from school been going, but she can’t make it. I have insufficient  incentive. 

Friday was one of our roughly quarterly lunches for a group of old teaching friends, this time at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart just near me.   There was a lot to catch up on.              

Bruce, an old Sydney uni friend, now living in Melbourne, was here for a family event last weekend, and we met up for coffee on Friday afternoon. It is always good to pick up where we left off. He and his wife had driven over from Melbourne, stopping over at Nhil for the night. On hearing that The Road to Nhil was a favourite movie of mine, He recommended The Merger, a Netflix movie made in Wagga Wagga. I watched it the same night. It doesn't topple The Road to Nhil,  but was pretty good.

At home I dug out the reminder of the first time Bruce and I met - at the final of a Public Speaking competition in 1962, our 4th year of High School. I was representing Sydney Girls' High, Bruce was representing Cronulla High. He was awarded the medal for first place. I still have mine for second. It was only when we met as members of the Sydney Uni Evangelical Union between 1964 and 1968, that we realised we had shared a platform in the Eisteddfod Public Speaking competition.

Another friend from Melbourne was also here on Friday for a death in her family but unfortunately we couldn’t find a time to meet before she returned home on Saturday. An extraordinary clash of visits - and a shame. 

Katherine and Anthony have been in Hobart for a few days, combining a conference and a break, the first without children in decades. Fionn was in Melbourne on the weekend.  I took Niamh to JEMS on Saturday, then to Queen St Cafe for our milkshakes and later to Billy's Table for dinner, while Veronica was babysitting for a family friend.  Niamh had a pizza, that turned out to be gigantic, and I had house-made fettuccini with seafood in a pastry parcel. It was very nice - and generous.

The weather has been changeable. The back balcony is looking grand. I'm pleased I bought  so many red plants. 

Our Crime Book Club met on Sunday, in a cafe about 20 minutes drive away. It was suitably quiet, but a bit far for some.

Three of us hadn't read much this month, beyond the recommended books. The other three made up for us! 

I was a bit late getting there, because a flock of birds arrived while I was having breakfast. They looked so black against the grey sky  that  I thought they were ravens, but they turned out to be lorikeets, high on the branches and dark in outline. 

I took lots of photos which I later edited to bring out the colour. Amongst them is the one I decided to for use for this year’s Christmas card (not included here). So Sunday evening was spent preparing and ordering it. It seems a bit early, but my first card for this Christmas, from Russell Hannah, and full of verse, arrived Friday. Australia Post have not even revealed their Christmas stamps!

The jacarandas look strange at the moment. Our warmer winter means the leaves have not all fallen  and the blooms are coming with leaves still on the trees. Hopefully the leaves will fall quickly now so we get a good display of purple.

With Katherine and Anthony in Tasmania, and Brigid with an essay due, Monday dinner was a smaller affair than usual. With only a few weeks of term left, the focus is on assignments and approaching exams. The date of next year's school formal was announced today, so there was much talk of dresses and potential clashes with Taylor Swift concerts. 

Today was another enjoyable AquaFit session. My new costume was very comfortable, although I had not thought of the downside of an attached skirt in a pool fitness class. I managed by tucking it in! 

I spent a bit of time this afternoon rediscovering the Christmas presents I have bought and stashed during the year. It's a pretty odd assortment, but at least I now know what's covered and where the gaps are. 

The mended travel pants have been delivered. The story is in my embroidery blog. 

I have 24 more rows to go to finish the shawl, and I am considering pausing it to knit a couple of Christmas things!

Post 505 Another Busy and Birdy Week.

It has been a fairly busy week again, one way and another, although I have had the weekend largely to myself.

The birds are still active, especially on the native frangipani, which is now in full bloom. Unable to resist, I snapped away at a couple of lorikeet acrobats among the branches on Saturday morning.  In some of the photos the bird was almost vertical - perfect for bookmarks, so I played around, converted 3 of them and sent off a bookmark order to UDesignIt. While I was about it, I converted 3 more to cards and ordered them from Officeworks.                     

Wednesday was the monthly meeting of the World Embroidery Study Group. Maria gave an excellent talk on the origins of Blackwork. Unfortunately, the projection completely failed, in spite of the relentless efforts of Margaret, our tech guru. Maria adapted quickly, working from memory and painting brilliant word pictures. Spanish Blackwork, it seems, did not originate in Spain and was not introduced to England by Catherine of Aragon, although she did play a major part in its popularity. There was a lot of discussion - everyone was interested and engaged. The Guild is mostly about doing embroidery, so I too get nervous when presenting history, but experience shows this group is really interested.                                                                                            

On Thursday, while doing Pilates, I watched a dove in the fig tree, positioning itself to remain partially hidden, while catching the sun.                                                                                                                                                                       I had dinner at friends' place. It was, as always, a truly relaxing time. I picked up Ken's travel pants for mending and set to work on them on Friday. It was quite a challenge and took a couple of days. Ken hasn’t seen them yet, so I will save that story for next week. 

Between Pilates and visiting friends, I called at the Yarn Trader. Since they carry Jamieson and Smith wool from Shetland, I thought I’d have a go at knitting this year’s Shetland Wool Week beanie in their colourway. Shetland mills each produce their own colourway for the beanie, but the time and cost of mailing wool from Shetland is discouraging. The Yarn Trader website indicated they had 5 of the six colours Jamieson and Smith colours..After much searching through their stock, we found 3 and substitutes for the others.                                                                                        Now if I can just finish the shawl….

Niamh and Veronica had a 16th birthday party for their many friends on Saturday, so I did not go for dinner. They bravely invited friends from Netball, from school and from their old Primary school. They were excited to report that people mixed well and had fun. There are lots of photos being developed. I had a weekend of preparing for Monday dinner, some Christmas shopping, finishing off the Advent Calendar I've been making for Brigid and mending the travel pants. I am pretty pleased with all the results. The making of the Advent Calendar can be found in my embroidery blog.                                                                                      

I may have made a mistake by changing to my summer quilt. We have had several cool days and colder nights this week, so I have been using the Huck throw I made a few years ago in addition to the quilt.       There have been plenty of moments of sun. This was the view from the window next to my sewing machine as I worked on the calendar and pants over the weekend. It's warming up for the next few days, but dropping again on the weekend, so I won't put the blanket away just yet.  

My music friends may be interested in a review of last week's Festival of Choirs Finale, published in In Review.

They also had a much better photo than I managed, taken from the balcony and showing the five choirs performing the last number together with Carl Crossin conducting from the centre aisle. I can just pick out Katherine and I.

Today I went to the AquaFit class again, and really enjoyed it. This time I dried off quickly by the pool, put on a dress and drove home sitting on my towel. I had to call at the Post Office to pick up a parcel on the way. That was easy, but I'm not sure waiting to get home to shower and change is the way I want to continue.

The shawl is coming along slowly and with another fairly busy week coming up it may not be finished this week. Still, there is a lot to show for this week's activity.

Post 504 Quite a week.

There was a fabulous rainbow over the city early on Wednesday morning. I just caught it after Robyn, my sister-in-law, noticed and drew my attention to it.

I reckon the pot of gold was somewhere near the police barracks that are about to be moved!

We went on to have brunch with Niamh, Veronica and Fionn at the Queen St Cafe. A happy time.

I had  a postal vote in our upcoming referendum and posted my ballot paper well in advance of closing date. I now have my Electoral Commission receipt.

My brother, staying with me for much of the week, is not keen on marmalade, which is pretty much my only(occasional) jam, so I opened the last jar of the crab-apple jelly I made from our crab apple tree in West Hindmarsh. The end of an era, and, yes, about time it was used!

It was a  relaxing time with my visitors. We've got a working plan for the book I'm helping my brother with; he edited another of his publications and Robyn has her lessons planned for the next term. They watched Niamh's football match (in the cold) and we had several relaxed meals, one with all the Adelaide family here on Friday night. It was a really good time.

They went home on Saturday. A  spectacular sunset rounded off their visit.  A rainbow and a spectacular sunset - the gods clearly approved of their visit.

On Sunday Katherine and I went to the Finale of the Festival of Choirs, on in Adelaide over the weekend. Five choirs, one each from Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland have been performing in 5 concerts. We only went to the last, which was at St Peter's Cathedral in the afternoon. 

It was a varied and interesting program. I enjoyed hearing Rainforest again. My favourite from the individual choirs was the Sydney Choir's Kirie and Gloria from Missa Rigensis. 

The final combined choirs piece, however was a stand-out, with the five choirs enclosing the audience on three sides, each with its conductor taking signals from Carl Crossin in the middle of the central aisle, surrounding us with sound. It really was fabulous, though not easy to photograph. These are some of the combined choirs processing to take up their places around the cathedral.

For the last couple of days the sun has been shining and the temperature is rising a little. I've caught up with washing and begun an advent calendar commission for Brigid. The honey eaters have been active, swooping around the balcony even as I was hanging out washing!

A message from my friend Ken almost stopped my heart. It said " I think we are close to 'end of life treatment'. It was only when I opened it and saw the attached photo that I realised, with relief, that he was referring to  another split in his favourite travel pants! 

Nowhere near end-of-life if I have my way.

Today I kept to my plan of returning to swimming when my back was healed and I'd had my 6th COVID shot. I got myself organised (no hearing aids, small bag with keys, cards & phone for front desk to mind, towel, pool shoes and toiletries) and fronted up for a 45 minute Aqua Fitness class at Unley Swim, a pool in the Unley shopping centre. I haven't used it before. The group was friendly, the instructor clear and helpful, and the session fairly vigorous. I managed without difficulty and really enjoyed it. I am now tired and feeling a few muscles. I have signed up for a 10 week block and it's in my diary indefinitely. 

I'm behind in my reading, and discovered I need another 28 row pattern repeat on the shawl, so nothing much to report there. With about 350 stitches on the needle now, each round takes a while. I'm unlikely to be finished by next week.  Still,

One foot up and one foot down, 

That's the way to London Town 

- or maybe 

Stitch by stitch (don't let them fall!), 

Very soon you'll have your shawl.  

(You can tell my brother's been staying with me!)