Wet stuff is falling from the sky!

Could it be - rain?  Real actual rain?

It's been so long since we have seen decent rain that we may be forgiven for forgetting what it's like!

It's much colder too.  Summer has finally finished, the hottest and one of the driest summers on record, and autumn has been warmer than usual too.  However yesterday morning we had our first frost of the year, and the previous night we lit our first fire of the year, so there is hope that we may even see winter this year.  And hopefully more rain.

There may even be snow in the district.  Last year our neighbours took their children to see the snow about an hour south-east of here, and brought back a snowman on the back of their truck.

Their at-the-time three year old son had great fun running down their driveway and jumping onto the snowman over and over again......considering how badly it was treated, it lasted surprisingly well.

It looked a bit spooky at night, though.

No more finishes to report.  Some cutting-out has been happening in the sewing room but nothing is at the finished stage yet.  I've been looking for fancy zipper pulls for the bag shown in the last post but they have been hard to find - perhaps gussied-up zippers haven't made it as far as the Small Smoke yet?  This morning I called in at the big store which sells fabrics and craft crap and haberdashery and household linens and candles and all manner of things (Aussies will get the reference, the rest of you don't need to worry about it), checked out their beading section and, much to my surprise, found some charms in the right gold/bronze colour which will make suitable zipper pulls.  They and their additional findings have come home with me, so now my bag can be finished.  I didn't want to use it until it was complete, trims and all, because then it would never get done.

This Saturday is quilting group, and recently we were evicted from the venue which has been home, they tell me (because we didn't live here then), since 2000.  It is the textile/sewing room of a local high school; the teacher who uses it most has been trying to get rid of us for some time, and has finally succeeded.  We paid rent for the room so that is money the school now won't receive.  Fortunately a local quilt shop owner, a member of our group, has stepped in and offered one of her classrooms - but if the downstairs room is already in use, as it may be this weekend, we will be traipsing up and down stairs carrying our sewing machines and other requirements.  What fun.

One of the currently 'trending' news stories seems to be that a member of the British royal family has worn a suit to a garden party that she also wore to her child's christening.  How is this news?  Do they honestly think we care?  Because we don't.  I have enough trouble deciding which of my sumptuous creations is fit to be worn in public to worry about what someone on the far side of the known universe from here (both literally and metaphorically speaking) wears.

"Extravagance in dress.
Dress, to be in perfect taste, need not be costly.  It is unfortunate that in Australia too much attention is paid to dress by those who have neither the excuse of ample means nor of social culture.  The wife of a poorly paid clerk, or of a young man just starting in business, aims at dressing as stylishly as does the wealthiest among her acquaintances.  The sewing girl, the shop girl, the chambermaid, and even the cook, must have their elegantly trimmed silk dresses and expensive cloaks for Sunday and holiday wear, and the injury done by this state of things to the morals and manners of the poorer classes is incalculable."

Do you mean to say there may be some people in this world who care what rich people, half a world away and completely removed from their own humdrum lives, are wearing?

Enjoy your days!

A pair of gallivanters are we

We have been out and about this week, it's a change to be home this afternoon.

Last Wednesday night we attended a performance of "Mary Poppins" by our local musical society, and what a wonderful show it was!  Amazing cast, the costumes and scenery were very well done, and the musicians were excellent.  No one connected with the show was paid......it's a completely amateur society......but there was nothing amateurish about it.  The musical society put on its first performance in 1888 and has been going strong ever since, with interruptions for two world wars and the coming of television when people preferred to stay in rather than go out to a show until the novelty of TV wore off, but it has always bounced back better than ever.  Way way back, a very long time ago last century when I was but a mere teenager, I was in the chorus of "Annie Get Your Gun" and it was great fun too.  I was also going to be in the chorus of "Kiss Me, Kate" but sadly couldn't make it, although I did attend rehearsals for a while and can still sing the songs.

Monday afternoon we took ourselves off to the movies to see "Florence Foster Jenkins" - my heavens, talk about going from the sublime to the gor blimey in just a few days.  Mrs Jenkins loved to sing, but unfortunately she was no singer.  She is quoted as saying "People said I couldn't sing......but no one could say I didn't sing"!    Her dream was to sing and perform, and she was wealthy enough to make her dream happen.

Friday saw us taking a trip to a town an hour north to visit their excellent museum, and last night the museum director was guest speaker at our historical society.  He certainly gave our members food for thought.

Of course there was Thursday night choir, and Tuesday night ukulele, and yesterday sewing guild......just as well we're retired so we can fit in all this socialising, isn't it?

On Thursday night after choir I was driving home up our street which winds along the side of a hill, came round a sweeping right-hand bend, and there in the middle of the road was a kangaroo looking at me.  Aussies know that hitting a roo is to be avoided at all costs (your car will come off second best, you may be injured and it doesn't do the roo much good either) so I stopped.  It turned and hopped slowly up the street, I followed very steadily.......it hopped onto the grass verge at the side, I stayed on the road, I'm not silly you know......it turned onto the driveway of the house two doors up from us and watched me drive past.  That's as close as I wish to get to one of our national symbols, folks......even though they make very good eating.

This is the view from my sewing room.  We often see kangaroos grazing and hopping around up there on the hill.  There's also the wash line and garden shed, but hey......they have to go somewhere.

 Little did we realise, when we lived in the Big Smoke, that we would see wildlife outside our windows!

My bag is done.  I love the fabrics, the kit was bought last October at the Creativ Festival in Toronto from Flare Fabrics.

 The front has a zipper pocket, and behind the brown band is another deep pocket.

 The back also has pockets, one big one stitched down the middle to make two smaller ones.  Inside didn't photograph well, but it also has two smaller pockets; the top is closed with a zipper so nothing can fall out.  I wear a lot of blue and green, and blue/green (and green/blue too, would you believe?) so this will be very handy.

Another purchase at the Creativ Festival was yarn by Fleece Artists, deep rich orange for autumn.

It's sock yarn but is much too pretty to hide away inside shoes, so was made up using the Noro Bias Lace Scarf pattern on Ravelry.  I can recommend it as a quick, easy - but very effective - knit.  When winter eventually arrives here (it's being a bit tardy this year, but at least temperatures have finally cooled down from summer) a warm scarf will be handy.

"A hunting sport, which is essentially Australian, is called "Kangarooing", and is often indulged in by both ladies and gentlemen.  In the country districts of the colonies, wherever kangaroo are to be found, they afford most excellent sport to the lovers of the chase."

The good folk of 1885 were a hardy lot, weren't they?  Chasing a roo on horseback couldn't possibly compare to following it in an air-conditioned car with heated seats.

Enjoy your days!

More things with wings

The big moth you saw in the last post wasn't the only one, you know.

Sitting on a power box next to our caravan.  Don't the legs make it look as though it's wearing a tiara?

This one must have wanted to hitch a ride out of town.  I was wishing that just one moth would spread its wings but none did; I certainly wasn't going to poke it in case it crawled on me.

Hiding under a bridge across the Murray River was a few little corellas.  While we were cruising along a large flock flew overhead and several settled on the beams under the bridge.  It's quite difficult photographing moving birds from a moving boat when you are going one way and they are going another, you know.

On a previous visit to Victoria in summer about 15 years ago we were awoken each morning by huge flocks of corellas flying over and sqwarking at stupid dark early o'clock each morning, about 4 a.m.  They were still flying overhead and sqwarking at daybreak this trip too, but at least daybreak is later in the morning than it was then.  Have a listen to this video, and you, too, can enjoy the dulcet tones of the Little Corella.

So now life goes on as usual.

Before going away both Kevin and I organised ourselves to make appointments for doctors, etc. upon our return.  One of my appointments, a couple of days after returning, for to see a podiatrist for my tootsies and on our return there was a message on our phone to ring her office to have the appointment changed - it was put back three weeks.  I wasn't thrilled (that appointment had been made a couple of months earlier, I can be fearsomely organised sometimes, you know) but had no choice but to go along with it as the podiatrist, it seems, would be away on the date of my original appointment.  A couple of days ago I duly presented myself at the desk to check in, had to wait five minutes for the receptionist to appear - not a good sign in light of what was yet to come - took my seat, and waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Waited, in fact, for more than 50 minutes past my appointment time.  At the last minute I had decided to take my hand-piecing with me and was so glad I had, as the waiting would have been very tedious otherwise.  There were two magazines for the waiters to read, one was a car magazine - wouldn't that be an exciting read, eh? - the other of the "my neighbour's best friend's cousin's baby was born with three heads" variety of stories.  Then, when I had eventually been seen and was waiting at the desk to pay my bill, the receptionist had disappeared again.

This wasn't a matter of life and death, it was to have my problem feet checked.  I can understand having to wait in an emergency, but somehow I don't think a podiatrist would have many life-and-death emergencies.  I don't know whether she double books people, or doesn't allow enough time for appointments and/or administrative stuff between patients but, except for my very first visit last year, she is always running late.  Enough is enough, she is not the only podiatrist in town, so I am voting with my feet (hah!) and going elsewhere.

There have been comments left on my last two posts that I haven't been able to reply to, if you haven't had a reply it's because your settings don't allow it - not because I don't appreciate your comments, I do!

"Breaking an appointment.
Do not break an appointment with a business man, if possible to avoid it, for if you do, the party with whom you made it may have reason to think that you are not a man of your word, and it may also cause him great annoyance, and loss of time.  If, however, it becomes absolutely necessary to do so, you should inform him beforehand, either by a note or by a special messenger, giving reasons for its non-fulfillment."

If I had been 50 minutes late for an appointment I may have been penalised, perhaps financially; many places now charge for missing an appointment, so they may also charge a fee if one is very late.  However I was not given a discount off my account for having to wait so long past my appointment time, I suspect I can whistle for that.

Enjoy your days!

Happy birthday to me......

.......Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday -
Happy birthday to me!

Pretty things, and things with wings

Pretty flowers growing wild in The Grampians:

A Banksia, but I don't know which one - there are many different species;

 A red correa, the flowers glowed like little red flames against all the greens;

 Probably a melaleuca or ti tree;

 I haven't seen this shrub before, it doesn't grow up here;

 The floral emblem of Victoria, the pink Common Heath, which I had never seen.

Now for the creepy-crawlies.

There were several of these things with wings the morning we left Narrandera......and they were huge!  This would easily be the length of an adult's palm, but I wasn't going to pick it up to find out.  It was well disguised against the roadway, wasn't it?

While we were away we celebrated our 40th anniversary.  Forty years......it doesn't sound like such a long time when you say it quickly......the traditional 40th anniversary gem is ruby, or garnet for those of us with more modern tastes.  I don't care for rubies because they are closer to pink than red and my trinket box already contains garnet earrings, so my anniversary gift was a pair of gorgeous silver-set black onyx and cubic zirconia earrings.

Work has started on making up the bag brought back from Canada.  It was a kit from Flare Fabrics, and the batik fabrics will hopefully complement my autumn/winter wardrobe.  Quite a bit of cutting of fabrics and linings and fusing of interfacing happens before one stitch is sewn, that's done and now it's up to the stitching stage.

Uke group has started back, and we have a bloke!  A token bloke!  We have had men in the group before but for some reason they don't stay long......perhaps we frighten them away.  One thing is for sure, this bloke will have to learn not to race ahead when we are playing - for instance, "Walking after midnight" should be walking, not running at full pelt.

Things here in the Small Smoke are looking up, because last weekend we had good rain!  Since the rain in January almost no moisture has fallen from the sky, and all the way to and from south-western Victoria (nigh on 1400 kms south of here) there was very little green to be seen.  However, the grass on the hill behind us is getting greener each day now and more rain is forecast for early next week to help it even further.  Local farmers are cautious about being too optimistic, but the feeling is of hope where, until recently, there was despair.

"Bring one of the commonest field flowers into a room, place it on a table, or chimney-piece, and you seem to have brought a ray of sunshine into the place.  There is a cheerfulness about flowers.  What a delight are they to the drooping invalid!  They are a sweet enjoyment, coming as messengers from the country, and seeming to say, "Come and see the place where we grow, and let your heart be glad in our presence."

We were lucky enough to see a place where wild flowers grow, glowing bright against the duller colours of the surrounding bush.

Enjoy your days!

Autumn is finally here!

Everyone locally is very pleased, although those who don't like winter are probably dreading the coming months......but anything will be better than the heat we endured over summer.  We seem to have arrived home at the right time!

We had a good time in Canberra and the family is all well, Young Euan is growing and is now walking, he wanders around talking to himself non-stop......no one can understand a word he is saying but that doesn't bother him, he just keeps chattering away.  The folk festival was excellent, and - as usual - quite a lot of time was spent catching up with people rather than attending concerts.  Many notes were played and sung, and just think - we can do it again in late October, just a few hours north of here.

After the festival and some family time we packed up the caravan, the two ukes, the car and ourselves, and headed south to Victoria.  The first night was spent in Lockhart camp ground, where sunset over neighbouring farmlands was very peaceful.

Next day we crossed the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

 We headed for south-western Victoria, based in Hamilton.  One day we drove to Port Fairy where I was surprised to see a White-faced Heron - I didn't know we had herons in Australia!  It was standing so still that we nearly missed seeing it.

 Lunch that day was fish and chips while overlooking the Southern Ocean......next landfall to the south is Antarctica.

 Another day we drove to the southern end of The Grampians, we had been to the northern end several years ago.  It is wonderfully rugged country!

 Heading north again we stayed in Echuca for a few days, and treated ourselves to a lunch cruise on the Murray River.......our table can be seen, second from the right.  We expected it would be a bit rough and ready but no, it was gourmet and very deliciously complimented with local wines.

 Heading north again for an overnight stop at Narrandera, overlooking the lake.

 Many countries have white swans, but black swans are native to Australia!

 A couple of nights at Parkes included a visit to the radio telescope, "The Dish".

While we were sitting in their cafe having our lunch the dish was moving, it's quite an awesome sight to see.

Since arriving home we have been busy with appointments, and volunteering jobs (me), and having our flu shots because the sneezin' season is approaching, and shopping, and washing, and cleaning, and.....and......earlier this afternoon I finally made it into my sewing room to cut fabric, but so far not one note has been plinked on uke or guitar.

"Avoid talking too much, and do not inflict upon your hearers interminably long stories, in which they can have but little interest."

Hopefully that has been the case!  Letting the pictures speak for me will hopefully show some of the highlights of our holiday, instead of words droning on and on.

Enjoy your days!

4,444 kms later, we're home!

Pics and reports will follow in due course.

Jennifer