Post 511 It's all happening here in Adelaide

This week's highlight was a fortuitous visit from Canberra family for  24-30 hours. 5 of us managed to go out to dinner, and all 9 of us met for breakfast the next morning.  It's been a busy, joyous, concentrated time. As usual, I am not posting photos of people for privacy reasons. 

We dodged the Adelaide 500 car race disruption most of the time. The race is over 4 days, partially on city streets, which, along with a number of feeder roads are of course blocked off. The continuous hum of the engines becomes an ignorable background noise. On the other hand, the RAAF  demonstrations of F-35A Lightning II and a Pilatus PC-21 aircraft come as a shock when unprepared. I wasn't sorry when the waxing gibbous moon rose on Sunday night in relative silence. Sound from the concluding concert did not carry in my direction. It takes several days to restore the city, and those who live in Eastern suburbs will be relieved to have their routes into the city restored in a few days time.

I was in luck with the arrival of my latest purchase from the Innovations Catalogue - a bamboo plant stand. It came just after Karl arrived from Canberra, so he helped me assemble it. We were proud of our handiwork. It now adorns my Eastern balcony.

On Sunday I went to the St Margaret's Plant and Bake sale, buying about 8 plants, mostly succulents and daisies. St Margaret's is always a healthy and reliable source. After a bit of food shopping on the way home, I planted them and did a bit of tidying and attending to my balcony gardens. 

I was very tired, but happy, by Sunday evening.

As I signalled last week, my blogging week began at Margaret's place, working on our presentation on Shetland Knitting for the December WES meeting (and eating Margaret's delicious quiche with home-grown spinach!). We are still working on our PowerPoint. This has been a bit of a rush, but I think we've done enough. I have now written about the buggieflooer beanie in my embroidery blog, and worked the same motif on a cross stitch pouch.

The excitement and joy of having family together carried over as they were flying home on Saturday evening, as Anthony drew off his first frame of honey. I am the lucky recipient of a jar, which I’m planning to use for this year’s Christmas gingerbread biscuits.  There is a lot more to come when more jars arrive.

This is the other thing I bought from the Innovations Catalogue - battery operated set of LED lights for the season. An indulgence, but a lot safer than candles, and a reminder. 

I steadfastly deleted the deluge of Black Friday offers in my inbox (hate the import of this custom) except for the carpet shampooer I had been planning on buying and likewise some more blocking squares from The Yarn Trader.  Now, between the Hap Stretcher and blocking squares,  I can block any shape without getting down on the floor to use the carpet (although the carpet will be clean!).  

 My new glasses were ready and I picked them up Monday, after the window cleaner finished at 9.15 am and before I visited my Superannuation company to clarify a few things . The glasses are bit of a change in colour and shape.

Family dinner was delayed to accommodate a school meeting from 6.30-7.30pm , an easy adaptation that accommodated all but Brigid who had a meeting. Exams are in progress - along with the vital planning for dresses for the Year 12 formal early next year - which Year 11's attend, dressed to impress, but not to upstage Year 12s. Tricky.            

My new pool dress/cover-up arrived and I was getting ready to try it out for Aquafit today when  a phone call cancelled the class due to electrical failure. We had a fierce electrical storm this morning, the second for the week. Roads were flooded and apparently 30,000 premises lost power. In both storms the window in my spare room leaked, caused, I'm pretty sure, by a flashing problem on the roof above. This time I got the towels in place in time. I have reported it to the Strata committee and will need to follow up when the rain is over if I don't want to end up like the Arkansas Traveller , a song and moral I remember well from primary school.

It has been a very happening kind of week! No rest for the wicked, as my mother would have said. I suspect the pace will be maintained until Christmas. While very sorry to miss AquaFit, I appreciated having a bit of a breather from activity - a chance to hang the sheets out under cover, wring out the towels and be still for a bit! 

Today was also the 60th anniversary reunion of my school leaving year. There was a lunch and school visit in Sydney today to which I briefly considered going. Pleased I didn't add that into  this week's mix.

I've instead been working the Buggiflooer Beanie pattern in the same set of wools, but using the orange tones as the dominant ones. Not sure yet how successful it will be. At the moment the lighter blue seems out of place.

As I brought the washing in this evening, a couple of honeyeaters were feeding on the jacaranda. The Noisy Miner attempting to intimidate from a higher tree eventually gave up, and left them to it. A small moment of peaceful persistence paying off for the honeyeater. 

Post 510 Busy and Blessed

It's been a busy, lots to do, running around, kind of week - and no sign of it letting up! For the first time, I have deferred other pressing commitments to write this post! There are wind-up events, exams, visits, appointments galore - and the Adelaide 500 car race diverting traffic and blocking off city streets. 

The December WES meeting involves Margaret M and I putting together some examples and information about (mainly) Shetland knitting. It's crunch time for this, so I have been working up an example as well as working my way through my numerous books on the topic, to prepare a summary. I enjoy this, but it is time-consuming. On the weekend I finished the Shetland Wool Week hat in the Jamieson and Smith wool. To link the technique to embroidery, I am working the same chart in cross-stitch. I'm in the process of writing this up in my embroidery blog, so will make do here with a photo of the finished hat. Margaret and I get together tomorrow to organise our presentation.

The basket in the background is one I bought at Gallery M, which I managed to visit last Friday to see the Hand Spinners and Weavers exhibition of braids, Knot just Braids, which finished on Saturday. 

I am so pleased I managed to get there. It was a fabulous exhibition. Janet, a member of WES Group, had a series of Kimono cords, each attached to a spectacular kimono - a very clever idea.      The signature piece of the exhibition was a screen of cords made by individual members of the Guild.                                                                                

The work was diverse. I loved the braided pots - and the drawstring bag.

The final JEMS meeting for the year was on Saturday, with the usual shared food celebration. It's been a good year for JEMS. The group is strong, the atmosphere relaxed, the projects tailored to individual interests and needs.         

Sunday was the Guild's pre-Christmas Market Day. I managed to pick up a few more plants and one of the DMC Motifs booklets. The latter series is always useful for ideas. 

I broke up the large spider plant I bought and added the pieces to my wall garden where they will provide coverage. 

The snake plant has nicely rounded out my indoor window stands. The older one, on the right, needs repotting, as do a few of my plants. Maybe next week.

Unfortunately one small cactus left quite a few prickles in my hands as I placed it in the car. Magnifiers and tweezers seem to have finally removed them.

The 3 year-old jacarandas outside my apartment are coming along, one (right) has a very definite lean - over the road and a parking spot. While the shade is good, it might need a judicious prune before it gets much bigger.   

Speaking of parking, there were loud noises from the street on Thursday night, just after dark. It sounded like an aggressive car alarm. When I eventually went to look (at the end of Would I Lie to You) there was a tow truck trying to pick up a parked car (the leaning jacaranda is in the foreground). The process took about 40 minutes. 

The single tow-truck operator made incremental adjustments to his tray, the car and his ropes, while clearly trying to reassure the distraught car driver. It was skilled,  physical, work in a confined space -  a drama injected into my life. How many life stories did it feature in, and how very different might the perspectives might be?

I got back to swimming today. I've now managed to shift a few things to clear Tuesdays of appointments, so I can prioritise AquaFit. All clear now until well after Christmas.  It tires me out, but is really great to be back in the water. I have ordered a towelling dress to make the journey home a bit drier.  

Last night's dinner was lamb shanks, beans, broccoli and a new potato and cheese bake. This recipe layers potato slices (no mandolin in sight!) with spring onion, cheese, cream, salt and pepper, with a layer of cheese on top. I suspect roast potatoes are healthier, so I will be a bit sparing in serving this one!

Today the last of my bookmarks arrived. I'm pleased with them - especially the silhouetted birds. I might add some tassels to the jacaranda ones.

Alison is in town later this week for work - and it's her birthday week, so there is much excitement and planning for weekend celebrations. It's like a little miracle. So joyful, and grateful.

I have a couple of beanies to replace for Christmas and finally caved in to the recent offer of Cotton Crush from Bendigo Woollen Mills before it sold out. I've been trying to use up the pastels I have had since my grandchildren were babies. I'm making inroads, but have been yearning for bold colour. Now I've got it. 

A couple more books arrived. This one is for me. It is fascinating. The writer is expert in recording and researching marks carved into the walls of English churches - marks to request help or protection, indicate association, or supplication. I rang an old uni friend as soon as I read the introduction. She's ordered a copy too. 

It's been a hard week - indeed a hard year - in relation to road accidents, with some high profile examples impacting a significant portion of a local population, my own family included. Our Covid numbers are also on the rise. One of my Pilates group has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and at least one of my neighbours is ailing. There is a lot of sadness to take on board. It is sometimes hard to work that through. 

My optometrist appointment last week resulted in a new spectacle prescription and the continuation of my low-level steroid regimen, which is keeping my eyes healthier and functional.  This blog is one way I nurture my mental health. I recognise my privilege. I  endeavour to use it well - and I count my blessings.

Post 509 Lots happening this week

On Wednesday I came into my living room almost ready to leave for WES Group, to find my 18 year old grandson sitting at the dining room table absorbed in his laptop. Surprisingly, I didn’t get a fright, and took it in my stride. He had come to do his last University exam for the year, using my wifi. He had woken to find  Optus, his home Internet provider, had been down since 4am - across Australia! His laptop frequently connects to my wifi, which does not use Optus, so he rushed here, connected and was in the midst of his exam. Enterprising. The outage was major. Train services stopped in Melbourne,  Ambulance services lost connectivity, courts could not access documents, businesses could only deal in cash, students missed exams and internet-dependent health services went down - for somewhere between 12 and 14 hours. Full credit to Fionn for finding a solution - as he always has when the path runs out. What the country needs.

At WES Group, unaffected by the outage, we managed our presentation - Moroccan Textile  Magic, drawing on Keryn's several trips, her extensive knowledge and collection.  Again, the group was very engaged. It always takes me a while to follow up afterwards, sending out a summary and notes. It looks as if the Guild's new office manager will set the projector up for us in future, which will be a great help. Keryn touched on textiles to ward off the evil eye. She corresponds with an archeologist in The Netherlands who has the best  evil eye explanation I’ve encountered. I’ve been following up. A couple more books on the way - another rabbit hole!  I've also been wearing some of my Turbo smaragdus opercula (cat's eyes) which, it seems, are evil eye amulets.

On Thursday I had a fasting blood test, getting to the pathology clinic just after 8am. After Pilates I called at the Guild, went grocery shopping and set about organising the cards and bookmarks I've been having printed.  The container is 30cmx45cm, so I am not going to run out of greeting cards or bookmarks any time soon!  I ended up really tired.

More bookmarks arrived today. I’ve decide on a bookmark for each decade for Di’s birthday today. She’ll like that. 

I had planned to visit Gallery M on Friday, where the Handspinners and Weavers Guild has an exhibition of Braids, but  with the temperature forecast at 42C I decided to stay at home and sent my electricity bill soaring. I got a lot of WES Admin done - and read Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith, which I enjoyed. It reached C40.2 but I stayed cool.

On Saturday Fionn asked if I could mend a pair of his trousers that had split from the waist to the bottom of the back pocket. Because of the position, I could use the edge of the pocket as reinforcement - so a relatively unobtrusive mend. The pocket is still usable, though Fionn assured me he is 'not a back pocket man'. Pleased to be able to help.

While on the topic of trousers....

The promised photos of the travelling pants arrived this week, the first on the flight and the second in a resort. Hopefully, as well as being comfortable, they are lucky pants - keeping the wearer safe while travelling.

There's still a bit more scope for repair if they can't stand the strain.....

Yesterday I bought a copy of December’s The Australian Women's Weekly, the first issue, I think, I've bought in about 50 years. It has a six page article about Sophie's Legacy, the foundation set up by Garry and Kate Putland, whose daughter, a 33 year-old Vet, committed suicide in September 2020. I worked with Garry in the 1990s and am full of admiration, and sadness, for the work of Sophie's Legacy. It's a very good article, outlining what amounts to a crisis in the Vet industry, and the steps being taken to address it.

The hat I was knitting a week or so ago is now with its owner and the detail is in my embroidery blog. 

I've also finished and delivered the alpaca shawl. 

I had thought about holding the link over to next week, since this post is a bit crowded,  but I've put it off for a couple of weeks, so here it is.

I've begun knitting the Buggiflooer Beanie in the Jamieson and Smith wool. It demands concentration because every row is different, but  is looking good. I have undone quite a bit, but I'm using stitch markers between each 34 stitch repeat, so I haven't had to undo more than 33 stitches at a time!

Today I had my annual checkup with my GP. My kidney and sugar readings were OK but still in the keep-on-eye-on range. We discussed weight loss at length, agreeing to rule out injectables at the moment. We've settled on an approach, I've cancelled the appointment with the nutritionist and made another appointment with my GP in 11 weeks time.   I had gone to today's appointment, made months ago, prepared for a 7km dash to my Aquafit class afterwards, but with 8 minutes to make it across town and into the pool, reluctantly gave up. Instead I called at Wakefield Press to pick up a copy of their just-released Adelaide Art Scene. I'm a little disappointed that its 740 pages focus on movements and galleries rather than artists, but it certainly has a wealth of local information for future projects.

I was clearly premature in my fear the jacarandas would not deliver this year. Carrington Street is glorious. 

The lorikeets still prefer the native frangipani. 

More to do in the coming week - to look forward to and be grateful for.

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