Merry Christmas to all!

For my Australian friends - here's something to make you feel a little cooler, and for those who live in colder climes a little taste of what to expect as winter continues.

We woke up to this snowy view after spending the night with a musical friend in Ontario, and were very entertained watching birds at his many feeders.....a cardinal, chickadees, nuthatches and finches......and our first woodpecker!

Best wishes for a Christmas full of peace and love.  For those who have lost loved ones during the year, I hope Christmas brings healing and hope for the future.

Enjoy your Christmas Day!

Travelling on from last post

While in Ontario we spent a couple of days in Goderich, which we enjoyed - it's a really nice town.  We stayed in a lovely B&B for a few nights, and had a great time exploring the town and the local district.  The historical museum and gaol were fascinating; small towns often have interesting histories.  It has a good quilt shop, Quilters by the Square, where one can buy fabrics for one's autumn leaf fabric stash.  As one did.

In August 2011 a tornado cut a swathe through the centre of Goderich, killing one man.  The beautiful gardens round the local courthouse were flattened and large trees snapped like matches - surprisingly just a few were not harmed, and are still growing while the gardens are being replanted around them.

This wonderful metal sculpture and the plaque below are in Lions Harbour Park overlooking Lake Huron.

 If one is really keen one can watch the sunset from the lakeside beach, then run at great speed up the hill to see it again.  We settled for just the hilltop view.

The east coast of Lake Huron has beautiful sunsets.

A bag has been made from fabrics and a pattern which were a gift from Rose Marie when we visited North Bay, as soon as its pic gets taken it will be posted here for you all to see - it has turned out very well.

Not many sleeps until the fat man in the red suit drops in for his annual visit.  Have you all been good?  Somehow I don't think he will be stopping here this year; that Canadian holiday was a nice present from both of us to each other so the fat man will pass by our house without stopping this year.

Last week was the biennial eye appointment and fitting for new reading glasses.  Don't you just hate having to try on all those different styles, looking in the mirror the whole time?  It's difficult not to be too critical and it is a very fraught exercise, I find.  The new glasses have dark red frames, green would have been nicer......I'm quite fond of green, you know......but all the green frames were styles I didn't like.  Clunky plastic frames seem to be on the way back after several years of fine metal ones.  My new frames are not clunky.

Speaking of green, did you know that emerald is the Pantone colour of the year for 2013?  Apparently that means you will be able to find emerald green in home accessories, and clothing, and anything else your little heart desires.  I'm rather fond of emerald, you know.  A judicious sprinkling of emerald here and there might be just what the Chateau des Wombats needs to spark it up.  Unfortunately there were no emerald green frames at the optometrist........

"Short-sightedness.
Short-sightedness is not always a natural defect.  It may be acquired by bad habits in youth.  A short-sighted person should supply himself with glasses exactly adapted to his wants; but it is well not to use these glasses too constantly, as, even when they perfectly fit the eye, they really tend to shorten the sight.  Unless one is very short-sighted, it is best to keep the glasses for occasional use, and trust ordinarily to the unaided eye.  Parents and teachers should watch their children and see that they do not acquire the habit of holding their books too close to their eyes, and thus injure their sight."

Unfortunately it's not that simple, there's a congenital eye problem here, folks.  It's not just age-related, although that does come into it a little.  It has nothing to do with all the thousands of books I have read over the course of my life either........

Enjoy your days!

Powering along.......

........which is good, because yesterday evening we weren't powering at all - we had a blackout.  It's storm season here and a week ago there was an almighty storm with lots of thunder, lightning, wind and rain; on the other side of the river a lot of damage was done by hail.  We were spared any damage.  There were also power blackouts.  Another storm yesterday afternoon and this time we weren't so lucky because we lost power for an hour and a half.  So the computer was turned off, and the sewing machine was also turned off because it's a computerised model and I didn't want its innards fried by lightning.  A bag has been cut out ready to be sewn but it may have to wait for a few days to be assembled, until the storms have passed.

Here's a couple of pictures from our holiday, you can see how gorgeous the fall colours were.  This bloke is quite armless, I would say......he doesn't look a happy chappy, does he?  Have you ever seen anything more mournful?

 The local park in Bayfield, Ontario.  It's a beautiful village which has been on the shores of Lake Huron since the early 1800s, and we enjoyed our visit.

Now that the heat wave has finished for now my guitar has come out of its case and you will be pleased to know I haven't forgotten how to play it.  My fingers remembered the chord patterns, and my brain remembered how to transpose to a different key.  Might even have have a plink on the ukulele from time to time too.

What is it with some blokes and their facial hair?  I don't mind a neat beard and/or moustache, but how about that little tuft of hair on the chin under the bottom lip?  It looks as though its owner spilt gravy on his chin.  Does anyone honestly think it looks good?

Here at Chateau des Wombats the Christmas decorations are up, such as they are.  Now that just two Olde Phartes live here we don't have a large tree, but we do have a few smaller table top trees.  A glass dish of glass Christmas tree balls, a couple of sparkly gold reindeer (which shed a few more of their sparkles each year), some red and green candles, a Jim Shore angel named Flossie and my wombat tree decorations complete the festive look.  There's something to be said for minimal decorating - it doesn't take as long to pack away again after Christmas.

"The beard.
Those who shave should be careful to do so every morning.  Nothing looks worse than a shabby beard.  Some persons whose beards are strong should shave twice a day, especially if they are going to a party in the evening."

Is a chin tuft regarded as a shabby beard, I wonder?

Enjoy your days!

Some coolth would be nice

This week has been very hot with temperatures well into the 30s, yesterday was 39.7 deg C....that's 103.46 if you still think in old numbers......which ever way you count it, it's still a wee bit hot.  We shouldn't complain too much though as last summer was milder than normal, so we were probably due for some heat this year.  At least, being inland, the humidity is much lower than it was when we lived in the Big Smoke.

Here's something to make you feel a little cooler.

 A foggy rainy day when we visited Quebec, much colder than it is here today.

Seagulls and salmon, I didn't dibble my fingers into this river....too many dead fish.  It didn't smell wonderful either, but as we had never seen a salmon run before it was very interesting!  Canadian seagulls are similar to Aussie gulls but much larger, they look like I imagine ours would look if they were on steroids.

Fallen leaves in the car park of Butchart Gardens, aren't the colours beautiful?  The little black cone is a light, not a gnome's hat.  The photos we took on our holiday are gradually being captioned so as we become old and decrepit we don't forget where they were taken.

Life is slowly getting back to normal here.  A few days ago a half-finished project, started before we went away, was completed - a skirt made from this idea, very easy and fun.  Mine is a dull red textured cotton fabric bought on special at a local quilt shop, now it needs a top to be worn with it (because the world is not ready for the alternative)......wonder what colour would suit?  I am leaning towards a black and white or grey and white print, but I will take the skirt shopping to the wondrous dress fabric shop we have here and check out possibilities.  There is another skirt which was finished right at the tail end of last summer needing its hip yoke re-sewn as the current line of stitching is all over the place like a mad woman's breakfast, then those lovely projects which came home from Canada with me that I am itching to get into can have their turn at being made!

Still haven't managed to have some guitar time but it will happen, the heat has fried my brain and it needs to be a bit cooler for me to concentrate on learning anything new.  On hot days like we are currently having I am doing well to remember my own name, you know.

This evening the Monday night choir is having its annual Christmas concert without me, as I would have only been able to attend two rehearsals with several weeks' break between them, and that isn't enough to learn several new songs although I do know the standard Christmas carols - yes, even the second and third verses!  So I am going to be a kitchen helper; the supper at these functions, supplied by choir members, is always scrumptious.  My contribution is a yummy chocolate slice, waiting in the fridge to be cut into dainty little squares.  And to be honest I will be glad to be able to wear a cool cotton skirt and top rather than the long pants, shoes and blouse with neck scarf choir uniform, it's going to be fairly warm in that church I think.

Next weekend the radio station will be having an open day for volunteers and visitors, so it will be a good chance to meet other people involved and talk to The Person Responsible For Training to find out how it's done.  Perhaps next year I will have my own radio program, wonder what it will be called?  One thing is for sure, it will be a mix of music.  This town is known as Australia's country music capital which means lots of songs played on radio about dogs dying, and relationships breaking up, and trucks breaking down, so perhaps something a little more cheerful would be good - although I must admit to a liking for those old parlour songs from Victorian times which were often tragic too.  "Don't go down in the mine, Dad" comes to mind.......yes, I do have a recording of it, in fact I have two recordings by different Aussie singers.

"Refrain from absent-mindedness in the presence of others.  You pay them a poor compliment if you thus forget them."

Do you think the weather can be used as an excuse for absent-mindedness?  We certainly wouldn't forget on purpose, and wouldn't wish to offend anyone.

Enjoy your days!

Back home, and back to reality!

We have been home for several days now, and still both keep talking about the great time we had in Canada.  Interesting places - some new to us, some we had visited before - and wonderful friends, even strangers we met were friendly and helpful.  Somehow, though, I think we picked the right time to leave Ontario as the weather there has become much colder in the past week or so.  While we don't mind the cold weather we have here in winter, and the cold fall weather we had in Ontario, neither of us have the right clothing for minus 35 deg C.

Meanwhile here at home, the temperature is plus 35 deg C, which is quite warm - summer has hit with a vengeance.  This summer's forecast is for hot, hot, hot, and probably dry.

This is the Sydenham River on a cool showery misty day in Harrison Park, Owen Sound.

Makes you feel cooler just looking at it, doesn't it?

For years now Kevin and I have been joking about taking "the award winning shot" - the picture that would win first prize in a photographic exhibition - this is mine.

Now that we are home we are falling back into the usual routine.  Since coming home on Monday I have been to two Christmas/end of year functions, with more to come.  Yesterday's quilt group Christmas meeting/party was fun as our challenge quilts were revealed to much ooh-ing and aah-ing; even my Plastered Pinwheel quilt was muchly admired, to my surprise.  Some of us tend to be a little diffident about our own efforts, don't we? The worst part was the insistence of the group president that we each be photographed with our own quilts, a real challenge when one hates having one's likeness taken.  When we packed up to move here I managed to lose most of the pictures of me taken over the years I worked in school libraries.  When one doesn't take a good picture one avoids having it done.  I don't want to hear "it's such a good picture of you".....all I can think is "my gawd, do I really look like that?"

Ah well.  Not much can be done about it........

On the flight from Toronto to Vancouver I watched a Canadian movie, "Marion Bridge", which I enjoyed so much I watched it again a week later on the flight from Vancouver to Sydney.  At the end the actors portraying the three sisters sang "Song for the Mira" which I hadn't heard before and absolutely loved.  Found the words and chords on the interwebz, now to find a little guitar time.  Even brought a present home for one of my guitars, a set of strings I can't get here, and of course they travelled in the hold in my checked bag.  Can't you just imagine a set of guitar strings setting up alarms in security?

Speaking of checked and carry-on bags, have you seen the size of many of the bags people take into plane cabins these days?  We each travelled with a backpack (which went under our seats) and a small un-wheeled bag, our big bags were checked.  But some people arrive jauntily down the plane aisle with bags they can barely lift into the overhead lockers, and there is much pushing and shoving as they try to make their bag fit in with everyone else's.  It's that sense of entitlement and importance at work again, isn't it?  On our flight from Vancouver to Sydney our row was shared by a Canadian man who works in the airline industry, and he told us he always checks his bag using the logic that, if people only travel with carry-on bags, eventually airlines will decide that checked bags can not just be charged for but be done away with completely.  Imagine trying to have a six-week holiday with only a small carry-on bag for clothing and souvenirs........

"No lady will retain possession of more than her rightful seat n a crowded tram-car or railway carriage.  When others are looking for accommodations she should at once and with all cheerfulness so dispose of her baggage that the seat beside her may be occupied by anyone who desires it, no matter how agreeable it may be to retain possession of it."

When I become queen I shall spread out over as many seats as I like, to make up for being squashed all these years.

Enjoy your days!

Au Revoir, Canada!

Our last day in Canada and we are sorry to be leaving.  We've had a great time, met wonderful people and enjoyed many "firsts", but we are ready to head home.

Sunset in North Bay, Ontario

There's nothing quite like sleeping in one's own bed with one's own pillow, is there?

We are hoping that we don't have to pay a hefty excess baggage fee, we seem to be taking home more than we came with - even allowing for the fact that some of what we brought was handed over to family and friends.  The gaps that were then made in our bags seem to have been more than filled up........ah well, if we do, then we do.  It has been worth every penny.

Tonight at stupid o'clock we will be heading up into the sky while sane people are sleeping, and next time we meet this blog will be back on its home computer.

Enjoy your days!

Coming to you from the west coast of Canada

Victoria, B.C., has a totally different feel to Ontario!  The weather here has been rainy and a little cool, but no snow.  Yesterday morning's Remembrance Day commemoration took place under cloudy skies, the rain held off until later in the day.

We have been having a great time meeting up with our friends, and with friends of our house sitters.  Yesterday afternoon we visited Goldstream Provincial Park to see the salmon run, something we don't have in Australia - it was amazing, and so interesting!  Thank you, Cathy and John, for an experience we would not have had otherwise.  Our visit to the park ended up with all four of us slightly dripping, but not quite as wet as the fish.

Today we had another good day out with friends including a visit to Sidney, B.C. which, if you haven't been there, is a very pretty town; then we headed to Butchart Gardens for a visit.  Our one-and-only visit to the gardens was six years ago in mid-summer when the roses were in full bloom; now the trees are dropping their leaves and the colours are very pretty.  The gardens has fun decorations for Christmas, some are already in place - we saw swans a-swimming, geese a-laying, maids a-milking, pipers piping.........no prizes for guessing the theme!

When we left Toronto to fly to Vancouver it was very foggy, just as well the plane and the pilot knew where they were going.  Here's hoping for an uneventful flight from Vancouver.....if only it weren't so long......the flight leaves at 11.45pm which is not a good time to start a 15-hour flight.......

Next time we all meet in blogland will probably be after our arrival back in the Small Smoke (there are a couple of Big Smokes to pass through beforehand), and you will hear about the rest of our adventures then.

Enjoy your days!

We are having such a busy time........

..........that my poor blog has been neglected!  We have been to many interesting places, and met wonderful people.  A highlight of our trip was a visit to our friends in North Bay, Ontario - and you can read all about it here on Rose Marie's blog.  You can even see pictures too.  Thank you Rose Marie and Gilles, for being fabulous hosts and for being such great friends.....we appreciate your kindness more than words can say.

One night we played TV bingo (something we don't have in Australia, although I can remember bingo on the local radio station when I was a child) and I won $75, how cool is that!  We agreed beforehand that any winnings would be split and I was more than happy to fulfill my part of that bargain.

One place we visited was Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.  I knew a little about the French presence in Canadian history but didn't know about this settlement, which only existed for ten years.  While the settlement today is a re-creation, it is as close as can be ascertained to the original.  One thing we noticed inside the buildings is the lack of light, something we take for granted these days with big windows and light coloured interiors, but these were unpainted dark wood buildings which would have been illuminated by firelight and by rush lights.  It would have been good to spend more time at the museum but unfortunately was just on closing time when we had finished walking round the buildings.

The autumn colours in some areas were spectacular, while further north were nearly all gone - but bare trees have a stark beauty of their own too, with evergreens contrasting among the grey.

And we saw snow!  Not much by Canadian standards, but exciting for us.  Even driving along the highway in a light snowfall (very light) was a novelty.  Yesterday morning I stood in the snow and let the flakes fall on me, it was nice.....and cold. Quite cold.  Really really cold.

Right now we are back in the big city of Toronto until next Friday when we flap our wings once more and fly to British Columbia for a week in Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

On our last visit to Canada I fell and broke my arm, haven't done that this visit.....but I did kick my foot on a chair base a few nights ago.  It's still bruised, swollen and sore, but don't worry, I shall be back dancing the rumba in no time at all once I can get into my dancing shoes again.  That will teach me to be careful.  Small injuries can be rather painful, can't they?

Enjoy your days!

Today.........

........I dabbled my fingers in Lake Huron, at Lion's Head on the Bruce Peninsula.  Can't help it, when there's a lake or a river I just have to try it out.  It was fairly cool but not cold, and certainly didn't freeze my fingers.  A cafe in Lion's Head sells delicious butter tarts and date squares, you will be pleased to know that should you ever visit.

All the Canadians we have met have been delightful and very helpful.  We have stayed in a couple of lovely B & Bs with very helpful hosts but tonight are slumming it, we're in a motel.

Have taken several photos but so far they haven't been uploaded to the computer.  The fall colours here have been spectacular and that's what most of my pics are!  Something to remember when we get back to Australia, because going into summer there won't be any autumn colours.......we will have to wait several months for them, and they won't have the rich colour that is found in Ontario.

Last Saturday I attended a quilt show and really enjoyed it, as seeing what others are doing is very inspirational.  Have also found a few quilt shops and bought some souvenir fabrics, isn't that a surprise?

Yesterday in Owen Sound we were entertained, if that is the right word, by two local male persons (one hesitates to use the word 'gentlemen') who were fighting in the main street.  Many naughty words were spoken, many punches and kicks were exchanged, and it all seemed to be caused by one man using the word 'plagiarist' to the other.  To look at them one would not have thought that either of them even knew the word, but perhaps one should not judge by first impressions.  Just as well there was no road traffic when they carried their fight to the middle of the street.

Tomorrow our journey continues.

Enjoy your days!

We're having a great time in Canada!

So far no pics, but they will be taken.....the trees in the streets near where we are staying are changing, the huge oak trees across the road are gorgeous.  Spending time with our son and his girlfriend has been wonderful, and once again we have been impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness of people we have met.

The Creativ Festival visit was fun, and yesterday's visit to the Textile Museum very short because of work being done to prepare a new exhibit, but as entry was subsequently free we didn't complain.  Perhaps another visit in a few weeks may be possible; it's such an interesting place with a fabulous collection and a wonderful shop, including the best selection of books on anything to do with fibres and textiles that you could imagine.

So far no bones have been broken, no one has taken a tumble - although sometimes it is difficult to keep one's balance in the subway carriage when the driver slams on the brakes, I swear some of the carriages must have square wheels - we both want to leave Canada as intact as when we arrived.  Kevin hurt his shoulder heaving a suitcase into the back of our car just before leaving home but after treatment by a local massage therapist it is feeling much better, and he now thinks it won't fall off after all. Which is probably a good thing, as there is more heaving of suitcases to come.

By gosh it's a long flight.......the 90-minute stopover in Vancouver wasn't enough for my ears to return to normal after the descent, so landing in Toronto was even more painful that normal.  We have seen an advertisement for a gadget which is supposed to help with the ear pain so shall check it out soon, and see if it is as wonderful as it claims to be.  Because landing can be so agonisingly painful I really dread flying, but the alternative was a long swim and a long overland hike.

The etiquette book has been left behind so I can't leave you with the usual words of gentle wisdom and courtesy, but that will be made up on our return.

Enjoy your days!

Finished.......just before we go away!

Yay for me - this year's challenge quilt is finished, several weeks early!  The final stitches were taken on the binding yesterday evening.  Here it is, "Plastered Pinwheels" in all its glory.

 There were three pinwheels left so, not being one to waste fabric (hah!) they were used on the back, which is a soft yellow check.

 A corner of the quilt so you can admire those pretty fabrics and the quilting.

 The back, so you can gasp at the skilful use of those leftovers.  As the backing had to be pieced, it was easier to make a feature of the join than to pretend it wasn't there.

The label, which tells how the quilt came to have this name.  A word of advice from one who has learned the hard way.....do not use white-on-white fabric for a label.  It is not easy to write on and doesn't look great when it's done.  But it is done, and that's the main thing.

Just to recap:  on our last visit to Canada in October 2009, while strolling along Kingston Road, Scarborough, looking for a coffee (unusually there wasn't a Tim's in sight) I rolled my ankle on the uneven surface and went down.  Broke my left arm - both bones at the wrist end - and sprained my right wrist.  Not fun, and rather painful.  Once we came home and the pain had receded it was just a matter of waiting for my wrists to heal and for the plaster to be removed.  Having a plastered arm is rather boring, you know.......couldn't knit or crochet (believe me, I tried), couldn't hand sew, I could read but couldn't hold a book so reading had to be done at a table.  But those little squares left from another project were in my sewing room, and although it was quite slow and painstaking they could be fed through the machine.  So 128 little pinwheel blocks were made, and some are more beautiful than others because the centres don't quite line up on every block - but it was about the achievement rather than the accuracy, and it was an achievement at the time.  Those little blocks (2-1/4in each when finished) have made a quilt measuring over 60in square, and it was designed on EQ7.

Only two more sleeps until we fly to Canada!  It's Thanksgiving weekend over there, so best wishes to my Canadian family and friends and we will see you on Tuesday arvo.  It will be so good to see our son and his lovely girlfriend again, we miss them.  We're glad he's happy, but a little sad that he had to go all the way to the far side of the known universe to find happiness.

So today is being given over to packing, and cuddles with Binky (The World's Friendliest Cat) and Bianca (The Beautiful but Slightly Brainless White Cat), and cooking something nice for dinner tonight to share with our house-sitters who will arrive sometime this afternoon.

Today's quote seems apt in view of events in the Australia media recently.  Aussies will know what I mean, and if you don't - just enjoy the quote.

"Dogmatic style of speaking.
Never speak dogmatically or with an assumption of knowledge or information beyond that of those with whom you are conversing.  Even if you are conscious of this superiority, a proper and becoming modesty will lead you to conceal it as far as possible, that you may not put to shame or humiliation those less fortunate than yourself.  If they discover your superiority of their own accord, they will have much more admiration for you than though you forced the recognition upon them.  If they do not discover it, you cannot force it upon their perceptions, and they will only hold you in contempt for trying to do so.  Besides, there is the possibility that you over-estimate yourself, and instead of being a wise man you are only a self-sufficient fool."

Have you ever met someone who is so 'special' that they are not on the same planet as the rest of us?  They don't have to wait to be served but can go straight to the head of the queue, and they don't need to join a line of traffic because they can push in further ahead.

For the next six weeks I may not have much of a chance to keep up with blog reading and updating, because we will be having a wonderful time with our family and friends in the land of the maple trees.

Enjoy your days!

Counting down......

.....not long to go now, only 11 days until we walk out our front door and start driving to Sydney!  The next day will be a very very long day, our flight leaves Sydney at 11.25am and will take 15 hours to fly to Vancouver arriving in the morning of the same day, then we hang around the airport for a couple of hours, then we get on a plane and fly to Toronto which takes four and a half hours, and we are due to arrive in Toronto at 4.16pm the same day we leave Sydney.  Isn't that something to contemplate?  I tried to work out how long our day will actually be and gave up at 39 hours, because it hurt my brain.

Here are some of our new plants, this sweet little one is Pink Myrtle (Hypocalymma augustifolium) - the new buds are pink, and they open into tiny white flowers.  It is about eight inches tall now but will grow to about three feet, won't that be pretty?

Don't you just love this one?  Eriostemon Buxifolius 'Cascade' is its name and its small white flowers open from pink buds.  It will only grow to about six inches high and is a mass of flowers and buds now.

  And just because it's so gorgeous, another pic of the Eremophila Nivea, its pale grey leaves are almost white in sunlight.  This plant is Kevin's favourite.

It will be interesting to see what difference six weeks have made to our garden, when we return.

Aren't you proud of me, the quilting on the pinwheel quilt is done!  The paper is being removed now; I draw my quilting design on tracing paper, pin it on and quilt through it, then tear it away.  Not everyone may find that a good way to quilt, but it works for me - removing the paper is a bit tedious but there are no pen marks on the quilt.  Then the edges will be trimmed and straightened, and the binding sewn on.  And a label.  Mustn't forget the label.

The next project is so far in the future that it's not even in my head.  Next year I would like to get at least two of my tops quilted, so that is something to work toward.  It costs many many dollars to have them done professionally which, being a retired Olde Pharte, I can't justify......and if someone else quilts them I won't have the opportunity to improve my machine quilting, something I would like to do.

I would rather spend a little of that money on upgrading my ukulele next year.  Recently the uke song book I ordered arrived, it has 365 songs - a song for every day of the year, if one is so minded!  There weren't many I didn't know........wonder just how many songs are tucked away in my brain?  When I was a child TV hadn't arrived in Australia but the radio was on all day, and we learnt the songs of the time, and of times past too.  In the 1960s that station played music of the 60s, and the 1950s, and the 1940s, and even further back - those songs seeped into my brain by osmosis and many of them are still there.  Even if the whole song doesn't come to mind, the chorus usually does.

"The bow is the touchstone of good breeding, and to neglect it, even to one with whom you may have a trifling difference, shows deficiency in cultivation and in the instincts of refinement.  A bow does not entail a calling acquaintance.  Its entire neglect reveals the character and training of the person; the manner of its observance reveals the very shades of breeding that exist between the ill-bred and well-bred."

The bow is something which is not practised as it used to be, is it?  How many people of your acquaintance bow when they chance to meet you in the street?  The lack of a bow doesn't show ill or good breeding - just that times have changed.

Enjoy your days!

Spring is sprung

Some spring pictures taken at a garden a little south of here.  Don't you love the different coloured leaves on these plants?

 A very pretty clematis........

 ........and a gorgeous azalea.

Our new garden is doing well and so far all plants are still alive.  Some very welcome rain last night means they are all smiling today.  Pics will be taken soon, I promise - even though the tiny size of some flowers means I may be lying on my stomach to do so.  If I can't get up again it will be your fault.

A few 'lasts' this week - last Monday night choir rehearsal, last Tuesday night ukulele group, probably last Thursday night choir tomorrow night - because they all go into recess during school holidays which start at the end of this week, and the first day of the next school term is when we leave here to begin our holiday.  In less than three weeks we will be in Canada, yay!  When we return home there will be plenty of time to take up singing and uke-ing again.

This morning was the meeting of a new local branch of the Australian Sewing Guild, and I started a tablecloth skirt because it looked like a fun project.  And it is!  Still need to attach the waistband, and overlock all the seams.....had I been properly organised I would have done that when the pieces were first cut out but never mind, it will get done in due course.......my fabric is a dull solid red cotton with a self-woven check and it suits the design well.  But it will not get finished until that challenge quilt is all quilted, labelled and bound; I want to get it out of my hair first.  All setting blocks and triangles are quilted and thread ends are in the process of being buried, or will be once I get off the computer.

While I have been diligently doing the exercises to strengthen my torn shoulder muscle the different exercises prescribed on the last visit to the physiotherapist are causing a certain amount of pain and discomfort, so I have been easing back on them.  Somehow I suspect that after our return from Canada I will be talking to the doctor about Going Under The Knife to have it mended once and for all........not looking forward to that but if it helps fix the problem it will be worth it.......even holding the folder of songs for choir practice and concerts is causing pain, and as I'm planning on living for a long while yet I would like to be as pain-free as I can.

"Yielding to one another.
One of the greatest disciplines of human life is that which teaches us to yield our wills to those who have a claim on us to do so, even in trifling, every-day affairs; the wife to the husband, children to parents, to teachers and to one another.  In cases where principle is concerned, it is, of course, necessary to be firm, which requires an exercise of moral courage."

The forthcoming holiday will be the longest time the two of us have ever spent away from home in each other's company........it could be interesting.......there may be a certain amount of yielding happening.  While we have been retired for a few years now it's easy to keep out of each other's way with our separate activities, but spending six weeks together will be different.  Ah, well - I'm sure we will have a good time, regardless.

Enjoy your days!

Life has been getting away from me lately........

This is one of the new plants in our back garden, it's an Aussie native called Eremophilia Nivea from Western Australia.  Eremophilia plants are called emu bushes because emus eat the flowers and fertilise the seeds in their gut.  We have others too; red and yellow flowered ones will attract birds, while blue and pink ones will attract insects.  The insects in their turn probably attract birds too, and so the cycle goes on.......the foliage of this bush is a pale soft grey, almost white.  It is very pretty.  And tricky to photograph on a windy day.

 When we lived in the Big Smoke we had no luck growing cyclamens, so I am giving it a go here.  So far, so good.  Perhaps the drier inland climate will suit them better, they certainly didn't like the humidity.  We've started with this pretty cerise one which is waiting patiently to be potted.

The radio station is still going ahead, I have been sitting in with a couple of announcers watching and learning as they present their programs, and when we return from our holiday I will be trained in earnest.  Looking forward to that!

Ukulele group is also going along nicely.  We're getting a little advanced now, even trying some finger picking - those of us who are game to do so, anyway.  Some of the beginners haven't progressed past strumming yet, but they will.  Fortunately the pink uke was sitting on the other side of the room so I was spared being punched in the arm again.

Quilting on the challenge quilt has temporarily halted but will resume again today.  All the setting blocks are now done, the outside setting triangles are next.  Last weekend was quite busy and took on a life of its own, or the quilting would be much further along.  On Saturday a friend and I drove two and a half hours to a quilt show in a quite small town, and had a good time, then drove two and a half hours back home.  One of the few things I miss about living here compared to the city is the lack of quilt shows within, say, an hour's drive.

Sunday afternoon was taken up with a choir concert for a local fundraising group, our concert proper is on this Sunday so we gave a shorter program.  It was a good chance to iron out a few bugs.  I have become the choir percussionist because I play tambourine, drum, and rhythm clapping for this concert of African-American gospel and spiritual songs.  The Christmas concert will have to happen without me this year, because I will only be able to make two or three practices.

It is 27 days until we start our holiday.....that's less than four weeks, yay!  Not looking forward to the long flights, but it will be worth it when we arrive and see our son and his lovely girlfriend, and our Canadian friends, again.

"Premature declaration.
It is very injudicious, not to say presumptuous, for a gentleman to make a proposal to a young lady on too brief an acquaintance.  A lady who would accept a gentleman at first sight can hardly possess the discretion needed to make a good wife."

How long should a couple be acquainted, I wonder, before a suitable time has lapsed for a proposal?

Enjoy your days!

The garden is done

And we are so pleased with it!  As you can see it still looks a bit raw, but as the plants establish themselves it will become much more finished.  The rocks which were used as a garden edging (and which looked like broken teeth) are now scattered among the plants.  The bird bath is back - the birds have been a little slow to re-discover it, but they will come back in good time - the large plant against the fence in the pic below is rosemary which we planted a couple of years ago, it's used a lot in my kitchen.

 This is a garden which will provide entertainment for the cats, as it's right outside the floor-length window where they like to sit.  The path is gravel thumped into submission with a machine called a whacker packer, so it's well packed and not loose.

 A broken pot, now a decorative plant holder, beside an interesting native grass.

 To make up for the lack of colour so far here's a little native plant which lives in a tall pot on our back verandah.  Those pea-shaped flowers are only about the size of a fingernail, and yes, they are purple and orange together.  You and I possibly wouldn't wear that colour combination, but that doesn't worry Mother Nature!  It's a plant from Western Australia which amazed our garden designer - she hadn't seen it growing here.  Considering I can kill off plants without even trying, it's doing very well.

Once the new plants flower more our garden will be very pretty.  Many Australian native flowers are quite small, some are really tiny.......their size is their defence against hot weather, as smaller leaves and flowers are better able to withstand heat than large showy flowers.

Speaking of Australian flowers, yesterday was Wattle Day.  The Golden Wattle is Australia's official floral emblem and there are many species of wattle in bloom now all over town, it's such a glorious sight!  When I was at school a thousand years ago Wattle Day was celebrated on 1st August; since then it has moved back a month, but I still think of August extending into September as a celebration of wattle.

Second week of ukulele group has come and gone, and the same folks made the trek up that steep staircase for another hour of fun and music.  The woman with the dinky pink el cheapo uke, wearing a pink shirt, and declaiming loudly that she was only there to learn to play an instrument to ward off dementia, was giving me a dose of the irrits.....perhaps when I get a little more proficient I shall upgrade my uke (not very expensive, but at least it's not pink) to something better.

The challenge quilt is coming along nicely, all the pieced blocks are quilted and the setting squares have been started.  It's beginning to look as though it may be finished soon, yay!  Much will be the relief when it's done.

The shoulder exercises are being dutifully done, even though they won't help heal the internal tear - only surgery will do that, it seems.  But exercises will strengthen the shoulder muscles, which will help it cope with the weakness of the torn tendon.  We'll see how it goes next year; perhaps opting for surgery might have to be the way to go.

"Size in relation to dress and colors.
A small person may dress in light colours which would be simply ridiculous on a person of larger proportions.  So a lady of majestic appearance should never wear white, but will be seen to the best advantage in black or dark tints.  A lady of diminutive stature is dressed in bad taste when she appears in a garment with large figures, plaids or stripes.  Neither should a lady of large proportions be seen in similar garments, because, united with her size, they give her a "loud" appearance.  Indeed, pronounced figures and broad stripes and plaids are never in perfect taste."

That makes me wonder what the good folk of 1885 would have thought of wearing a garment in the colours of my flowers - bright orange, purple and green?  Perhaps it would be considered a trifle loud.

Enjoy your days!

Not much to see yet, folks.......

........just some dirt, and some stones which used to be the edge of the garden against the fence.

 More dirt, hard-packed where pavers (now edging the new path) used to be.  You can see the feral geraniums in the corner bed.

  The new path will be curved, and won't be grassed.

The back yard in its entirety - as you can see, it's not very big.

But on the other side of the fence is a hill with trees, and kangaroos, and kookaburras and parrots and other birds.....so who needs a big yard?  The path will be gravel and the curved sections will enclose garden beds with native plants.  Some plants already in the garden will stay and there will be some lovely new ones.  The posts (one in this pic, the other in front of the small green shed in the first pic) are supports for the wash line; like many Aussies I don't own - have never owned - a drier.  Sunshine and wind for drying washing are free.

This week a ukulele group had its first meeting at the local music school, and great fun it was too.  There were 12 or 14 of us who turned up, but I am wondering how many will stick with it.  The folks who didn't have their own instrument (although the school owns some which can be borrowed), have never played an instrument before, and can't read music, seemed to find it a bit hard.  We'll see how many make the trek up that steep staircase again on Tuesday night.

On our last visit to Canada I managed to fall and break my arm which duly healed, and is pretty much right now.  But that fall also damaged my left shoulder, and scans and tests a few months later showed a torn tendon....no wonder it was hurting......so it was treated with physiotherapy and a cortisone injection, and was fine until recently.  However for several weeks now the shoulder has been painful so my doctor suggested an ultrasound, which shows that the tear has deepened.  No wonder it's hurting again.....so back to physiotherapy this week......words were said about an operation to fix the tear, but that's a last resort as far as I am concerned.  The doctor and I decided to treat it with PT and exercise, have another ultrasound in a year, and if the tear is worse then I will have the operation - the idea of Going Under The Knife fills me with dread, as does a hospital stay; it's the loss of dignity, privacy and personal space that is hard to cope with.

In 43 days we will start our holiday.

Quilting of the challenge quilt is proceeding slowly.  Very slowly........it has to be well and truly finished before we go away.......perhaps if I sat at the sewing machine rather than the computer, that might be a good start.......

"Etiquette of card playing.

Never urge any one who seems to be unwilling to play a game of cards.  They may have conscientious scruples in the matter, which must be respected.

If you have no scruples of conscience, it is not courteous to refuse, when a game cannot be made up without you."

Supposing one just does not know the card game being played, scruples or not?

Enjoy your days!

Now you see it.....

....and soon you won't.  This is a corner of our little back yard, all of which will be re-modelled this week.  The palm tree in the corner has been gone for a while and the corner bed is now home to feral geraniums.  Grass doesn't grow well in the yard because it's shaded, but there is a thriving crop of assorted weeds which do grow.  I was going to take a few pics to show you the ordinariness of it but didn't....however, you will see the new yard when it's done.  We will having things removed, and things added, and the grass will go, and there will be some new garden beds and lots of lovely native plants and a new gravel path.

We had thoughts of doing the work ourselves but decided against that, as some of it will be hard work and we are Olde Phartes.  Paving stones will be dug out and re-used, and concrete edgings will go, and the stones edging the current beds will be moved.  Some of those stones are granite probably from the hills just north of here, and even though they are not huge they are fairly heavy.  We are looking at making life easier for ourselves as we get older so making the garden low-maintenance is a good place to start.  A local horticulturalist looked at our yard and came up with a plan which we like; this week the heavy work will be done and new garden beds laid out, then next week the new plants will go in.  There will be two beds closer to the house than at present, which will make for kitty television once birds start visiting......mind you, I'm not sure that either of our cats would know what to do with a bird.  Binky was a good mouser in her younger days but as far as we know never caught a bird, while Bianca has been an indoor cat since a very young age.   They don't take much notice of birds, but a leaf blowing in the wind sends Bianca into spasms of excitement.

Quilting on the challenge quilt has been started but has been grinding very slowly.  Hopefully it will pick up this week.  The first two pieced blocks don't look too bad with quilting on them, but I had a brain snap and thought that perhaps quilting on each of those 2-1/4in pinwheels would look good.....and it would, you know......but have decided to do the rest of the quilting first, then - perhaps - all 125 of those little pinwheels will get quilted too.  One at a time, because there isn't a lot of scope for continuous lines on them.  If I don't run out of quilting oomph first.  Just the thought of having to weave in all those thread ends is enough to bring me out in a severe case of hives.........but it would look so good.......

It's been a busy week!  Thursday night choir is back - we had several weeks off because our director had to have medical matters attended to - and a local woman is starting (re-starting actually, there used to be a branch here a few years ago apparently) a branch of the Australian Sewing Guild.  Its first meeting was held during the week and will, I think, be excellent.  I am so fed up with clothing choices available in shops, once one gets to A Certain Age many of the clothes are very uninspiring, and the boutique-style shops have prices that make me gasp and styles that look as though they are trying too hard to be different with floaty bits here and asymetrical panels there.  Fine if one is very tall and reed-thin, but when one is short (5 foot two inches on a good day) and not slim any more.....sigh.....one would look and feel as though one was making a spectacle of oneself.  While one doesn't mind standing out a little from the crowd, one doesn't wish to be a figure of fun.

"Showy dress.
The glaring colors and "loud" costumes, once so common, have given place to sober grays, and browns and olives; black predominating over all.  The light, showily-trimmed dresses, which were once displayed in the streets and fashionable promenades, are now only worn in carriages.  This display of showy dress and glaring colours is generally confined to those who love ostentation rather than comfort."

Well, now......comfort before ostentation, I always say.  But brown?  Having lived through the surfeit of brown in the 1970s I'm not so sure about wearing a brown dress ever again.

Enjoy your days!