Post 481 Tired but Happy.

Today I drove down to Encounter Bay, 90km and 90 minutes south of Adelaide to visit friends who are currently living in the UK, but are here to prepare their Encounter Bay home for their return later this year. While the temperature in Adelaide today was 35C, it was lovely to sit on their deck and catch the breeze off Encounter Bay - a good 10 degrees cooler.

There were seals diving out in the Bay.

The view to the right of their deck is of the Bluff.

We went into Port Eliot for lunch, and on the way back stopped at a bookshop with a remarkable stock of current books, including a good supply of Lisa Hannett's Viking Women which is being launched in Adelaide this week. I had been working out where I could most conveniently get my copy. Now I have it.

I drove back this afternoon. It's not a difficult drive, but requires concentration. There are also sections of extensive roadworks along the way. It's been a lovely day, but I am quite tired. The forecast for tomorrow is 39C and I'm looking forward to doing very little - except taking my embroidered chair to the Guild Exhibition. Maybe not entirely restful .

Earlier in the week I visited Barrow and Bench and bought some replacement plants. I'm watering my plants twice a day in the current heat. They dry out so quickly.

My eldest granddaughter was 20 last Friday, and, on a high from the 90th Birthday bag, I made another one with 20 sea creatures for her. Again, details in my embroidery blog.

I'm also making her a couple of cushions. I forgot to photograph one (which is not embroidered) but I'm working on another one that has an embroidered panel.

It's a bit of a challenge. Originally I planned to use beads to give texture to this panel, but that isn't suitable for a cushion. It's progressing, and will, I think, work well.

On Thursday evening I had dinner with friends heading off on a cruise. Katherine made her fabulous pizzas for Saturday dinner. On Sunday I had Book Club in the morning and helped block 2 shawls for a friend in the afternoon. Monday's dinner was a selection of cold meats, party pies and salads  in view of the 35C temperature. Fortunately there was enough left to feed me tonight when I got home to 38C.

This little fellow came right up to my feet as I sat in the Square before everyone arrived for dinner yesterday. Bold.

Post 480 Birthdays, bats, bees and baby cardigan.

Last Wednesday was the first 2023 meeting of WES Group - really engaging talk by Raelene on her visit to the 2016 European Patchwork Festival in Alsace. We had a big turnout of 16, very engaged with the presentation. We are also getting organised for the Guild Exhibition next month. Unfortunately, I was so busy coordinating I forgot to take photos.  That evening the bats were about. The evening star was also visible. It doesn't show up well in photographs but I have inserted a faint arrow pointing to it in the centre right.

Thursday was morning coffee with Panayoula before Pilates. 

Friday brought Lorraine's 90th birthday lunch time celebration at Lenzerheide. There were 13 of us enjoying high tea. One was unfortunately on a delayed flight from Brisbane and another ill in Melbourne. Lorraine was looking relaxed and elegant. I grabbed a quick photo of part of the table.

I took the opportunity to wear the coat dress and the earrings given to me for my birthday by my daughters. Swish. I even bought some foundation makeup - haven't used it for over a decade. I forgot I would need makeup remover - so spent an inordinate time scrubbing my face before bed! 

Sunday was spent cooking for a birthday dinner on Monday. I had considered roast pork but that was to be the family's Sunday dinner, so I settled for Moussaka - more preparation but a smoother run on the day. I'm trying to stitch something for each birthday, and February is a birthday month so I've been busy.  This is from the bee scarf for yesterday's celebration.

I also finished the second baby's cardigan. This one really is for a baby, not a toddler.  Hope it's what is needed. 

Today I visited my podiatrist, whose parents are renting a house in the Barossa Valley, while waiting for the water to go down in their home on the Murray River. Flood waters reached the top of the kitchen benches in their first (not ground!) floor kitchen. From there I visited Bunnings to buy a few replacement plants before joining Tuesday stitchers at the Guild. I'm working on another birthday gift! 

Back at home I have found homes for the plants I bought. I still have a couple of empty pots, so there's room for more. The bad news was a traffic fine in my letterbox- a claim I disobeyed a red arrow, which has caught me by surprise. I have been quite careful - especially at the intersection in question. It's worse if it happened and I don't remember. I don't, however, think I will argue. I was at the intersection around the nominated time.  A bit depressing - but at the moment I am philosophical, confident and resilient. 

After several days of pleasantly cooler weather, the temperature is rising again. From 29C today, we go to 35C tomorrow and 38C on Thursday. After a couple of high 20s over the weekend, the forecast is for 30+again next week. I'd rather it were cooler, but it is fairly usual for February, and could be worse. I need to keep the water up to those plants. 

Post 479 Doves return to the new normal

In the last few days I have been sitting out on my back balcony for a morning coffee. I haven't done this before - preferring to sit inside looking out. However, the morning sun, the more comfortable chair I moved there in November when the painters were working on the front balcony and the summer plants have finally drawn me out.

As I was sitting there yesterday, one of the doves arrived and stayed for a good 20 minutes. I couldn't resist taking photos, some closeup, some against the sky.

It is  a privilege to be so trusted. If I were a marketer I might call it my coffee experience!

The week has sped past, with a return to some routines - Pilates last Thursday, a quarterly lunch with friends, JEMS on Saturday, and the return of Tuesday Stitchers at the Guild.

The lunch was at Sho Sho, on King William Road - really lovely food and great company. JEMS seems off to a good start, and the proprietor of Queen St Cafe was very pleased to welcome Niamh and I back for our milkshakes afterwards.

My big achievement of the week was the completion of a tote bag for a friend's 90th birthday. Her celebratory lunch is this Friday. The bag has ninety embroidered stars and the details are in my embroidery blog. I've ordered some more of the fabric since it worked well.

Since finishing it, I have embarked on another baby cardigan, this time choosing the smallest of the 7 sizes in the pattern. I did have a 200gm ball of slightly off-white cotton in my knitting bag, ready to use, but have mislaid it somewhere along the line. I'm hoping it will turn up, but in the meantime I'm using ecru.

I've finished the back and one front, and am  working on the other. It is a LOT smaller than my first effort, which had 13  rows of motifs, compared to 9 here!

I had coffee with Panayoula in my diary this morning, but she had it in her diary for tomorrow, which is WES Group - so now we are meeting on Thursday!

We have a bit of reorganising to do tomorrow at WES, since our program for the year did not take into account the March Exhibition, which will close the Gallery for a couple of weeks. The request is that we staff the exhibition for that morning. Tomorrow will tell if we agree.  

I began another embroidery project at the Guild today - an idea that occurred to me this morning - but I'll save that to next week.

I will finish as I began, with the pleasant coffee corner on my back balcony. I should, of course, have taken the photo without the washing!

Post 478 Almost back to routine after Holiday period

I never tire of the view from my balcony at all  times of the day, but especially as and after the sun goes down. As I write the sky is pale apricot and bats are wheeling, too swiftly for me to capture in image. 

This was the view of the Square and St Francis Xavier tower on Thursday evening. I love the play of light.

Thursday was Australia Day. I have never celebrated the day. It was not part of my youth (aside from marking the end of the school holidays). Even my mother, whose local knowledge of Botany included all the details of both Cook's arrival at Botany Bay, the First Fleet, and the connection to local landmarks, was more likely to celebrate Wattle Day on 1st August, than Australia Day on 26th January. 

I spent the day in the apartment, reading and working on my apron for the Guild Exhibition.

The sunflowers have continued to open slowly and bring joy and cheer. I continue to play with the removal of backgrounds. On Friday I called in to the Camera Shop in the Central Markets to buy a new card reader and card for my DSLR as the old reader had a bent pin, which likely damaged the card. Over the weekend I discovered a chip in the cover of the lens on my phone camera - so managed to buy a new cover today. Can't do without my cameras!

The regular routines are resuming. Saturday was the first Certificate Course Workshop of the year - a look at metal threads, taken by Jennifer Beale. There was a good turn-out and lots of catching up conversations. We were given a table of threads, with a blank space for a sample and a plastic bag of some 15 threads to match to them. It was an excellent exercise, taking a couple of hours to complete.  I also handed over the baby cardigan - and bowed out at lunch time.

School resumed yesterday and the girls' adjusted uniforms were a success. Whew! Monday dinners are back on and the first went well. It's good to be back into a routine after the messiness of January. This week I will also get back to Pilates. I should now be able to remember which day of the week it is!

Today I finished the apron I was making for the Guild Exhibition. It's useful, but not very striking.  I have moved on to a bag for a 90th birthday in 10 days time. I wanted to make something appropriate, so when Ink and Spindle send out a message about a sale on their Shells linen I had an idea, and ordered enough for a bag.

It arrived yesterday. I have now cut out a tote bag, about 45cm square. I plan to embroider 90 starfish - 40 on each of the front and back, and five up each side. I think I can get it done in time for the Birthday Lunch on 10 February.

Better get on with it.

Post 477 Home again, home again

These are the beach photos I couldn't upload last week.  I didn't venture on to the beach, but everyone else did. Several days were very hot, others windy and a little rainy. It was just lovely to be away, near the beach and with family - uplifting and renewing.

 

On my last day Katherine and I visited the Yankalilla Second Hand and Book Exchange hoping to see Emanda. She wasn't there, but we snagged a few bargains. 

That night we visited friends staying nearby in a house packed with mementos of the sea and an eclectic collection of art and oddities - a true beach shack. It was lovely to see the friends - and the house!

I came home on Friday. It took quite a while to unpack and to return plants to their places. The indoor ones had been sitting in the sink.  The weather had not been quite as hot as forecast and everything had survived - a couple only just. Oddly, my thriving pig-face on the balcony was covered in scale. It's about the toughest plant I own.

I took myself over to the pub on the corner for dinner - salt and pepper squid, of course.

The bats came out in force to welcome me home.      

                  

On Saturday morning I added the buttons to the baby cardigan I had finished at the beach. It's a little bigger than I envisaged, but I'm happy with it. I have another 200gm ball of cotton to make another. Once I've checked with Christine, I'll make that one smaller I think.

Sunday was Book Club. I had read 2 of our options - The Maid by Nita Prose and The Bleeding Heart Yard, by Ellie Griffiths, both good. Afterwards I detoured to pick up four summer uniforms to alter for the girls before school returns next Monday. They needed taking in at the waist and hems. That occupied Sunday and Monday (interrupted by Garry, the electrician replacing a light). 

Today I returned the uniforms - and they fit!

I'm now working on the apron for the Guild Exhibition - a bit mad, but interesting. I've also been playing with removing photos from their background - something my photo hints has been telling me to try for a while. I could remove the background - but not save it anywhere. I have now figured it out!  You can expect to see a lot more disembodied images! 

They will prove, I think, very useful.

These are the sunflowers I bought on Saturday. I love watching them open.

The coming week transitions out of summer holidays - Guild operating, school resuming, Monday dinners - and a public holiday.  Another adventure.

Post 467 Bulletin from the Beach

 This is a short post from the beach at Carrickalinga where I have been since Saturday, staying close to where this photos were taken. There is no wifi here, and very poor connection with my phone provider, so I am uploading this using a hotspot from my two-bar phone connection - a very slow process. I have tried unsuccessfully to load 4 low res photos. I'm not trying one photo only, but if you can't see it, the bandwidth is insufficient.

 I am relaxed and lazy with my daughters, their partners and children close by. It is hot - low to mid 30sC - but a sea breeze and cooler than Adelaide.I hope my plants are surviving. I watered them thoroughly, left upturned bottles of water in some of them and hope for the best. I'll be home again on Friday. 

Last Thursday was my birthday and I had a fine time with messages from friends, lunch with Katherine and the kids at River Cafe, and a visit to Albox to pick up some archival photos for the Guild Samplers project. I had a photo of some fabulous presents I received but that will need to wait, or be discarded.

Many thanks to everyone who made it a great day- relaxed, cocooned in love and support.

                                                        

Today I finished, except for the buttons,  the baby cardigan requested for the Guild shop.   That too will need to wait until next week. 

It's currently raining - great for comfort inside, but less so for the beach. I, of course, like it!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

Post 466 Mostly blooms, bags, books and bats

 Plenty of hot days again this week, so I've been watering every day in the hope of keeping the blooms coming.

It has worked so far, but I'm not sure what will happen while I am away next week. 

At least this precious Almanda Blue, propagated from one of John Walmsley's original plants and given to me by a friend, should be OK in its saturated pot and saucer filled with water.   It has quite a way to go before it creates the ball for which it is famous, but it's well on the way. 

I've been bunkered down reading and stitching. I have a chapter to read for my brother, but have not given it my full attention yet. I've read The Maid, for Book Club, another in the Cathy Ace WISE Detective Agency series and 3 more in the G R Jordon Highlands and Islands series. I think I still have enough between my Kindle and my Kobo to not run out while at the beach next week.

For several weeks now, the toilet sistern in my bathroom has been dripping and occasionally refilling suddenly. I have tried to pretend it will fix itself and told myself there is no point in calling a plumber over the holiday period. Yesterday morning I bit the bullet and called the plumbing company I use. They promised a plumber around 3pm. Scott arrived at 1.15, borrowed a screwdriver, investigated, explained what he was doing, went and bought a replacement part, returned, installed it, tested, demonstrated - and left just before 2pm. I've never had anything but fabulous service from them. No more drips. I always stress about calling up a service - and I always end up happy and relieved. Slow learner! 

On Friday, while walking around the Square to clock up a few steps, I glanced up and realised that my Christmas bunting was still on display, but my neighbour's string of lights had disappeared. Checking the date ( I lose track at this time of the year) I realised I had missed my mother's 5 January deadline to remove Christmas decorations. I hurried back and went about restoring them to storage. For this year I am now following the tradition that says the Twelve Days of Christmas begin on Boxing Day and  end on 6 January, rather than my mother's Anglican tradition of beginning on Christmas Day and finishing on 5 January (which happened to be my parent's wedding anniversary). I was brought up in the belief that it was unlucky to leave decorations up beyond that date. I hope I've squeezed in by switching dating tradition! In southern parts of England, Twelfth Night is 17 January.  Maybe none of it works Down Under.

The 125 extra bags from the green and checked fabric purchases from the Guild are now completed and stowed away. I've begun work on a sampler apron for the Guild Exhibition in March. This is using up some seersucker I bought to make nightdresses but which proved to be rather too pink.

                     

It's a project with enough challenge to keep me interested. I have embroidered the front to the right of the centre line and  now have to embroider a mirror image on the left side Each column is a different stitch.

It has slowed down my baby cardigan knitting, but not by too much.  I'm now on the first sleeve. I've also borrowed a copy of Vintage Knits, from Katherine, which has a couple of baby jacket patterns without lacy holes. I might try those as well.

I spent today at a friend's place entering another set of data into a database for the Embroiderers' Guild, this time an amazing collection of samplers, mostly associated with the Guild's Certificate Course. This is the work of one retired member (now sadly suffering from dementia) over some 15 years,  8 variously sized folders of samples worked to illustrate every aspect of the certificate course, probably 150 beautifully worked samples or samplers. They form an extraordinary resource for others doing the course, or just interested. It was a two person job to sort, categorise and enter the details. Hopefully the database will make the samples accessible. We completed 6 of the 8 folders and will hopefully finish the job before the end of the month. We are in awe of the skill and persistence that went into this collection. It is hugely satisfying to work on a project like this for a whole day, both of us focused on the task and the joy of handling such skilled work - becoming part of its imparting.

The bats have been very active of late, flying in just after sundown and making a terrific racket feeding on the figs. The sounds are apparently echolocations, guiding others to the food. In the heart of the city! I took these photos last night.

The bats are arriving again as I write this. I'm resisting the urge to take more photos. 

This time next week I  expect to be writing from Carrickalinga where I will be staying with family. It has been difficult for interstate family to get leave and my fingers are crossed for smooth travel in difficult times. I am so looking forward to seeing them.  

The wifi isn't good at Carrickalinga, but I hope to be able to post. Until then.