More photos of the river and Lakes area

The first is of the Goolwa wharf showing how low the River is there you would not normally see the area below the wharf.
The second is of Pt Sturt, From the white sandy area this would be under water.
Same area a bit further along.
The last is of the cliffs at Clayton, I believe the water would be about half way up these cliffs normally.
We are having a wet and windy today, not a lot of rain but cold. About 3 mm.
We are out to Tabby and John's for dinner tonight which will be nice.
I have just discovered that a fox has got in and killed the bantams in the two coops I moved yesterday, now I feel like a murderer.

Drying up -around Goolwa

Today John and I went for a drive around the lower lakes and the River Murray. I will do these photos in a couple of parts.
these are showing what it looks like around Goolwa and on Hindmarsh island. The first is of the worm that will only grow in salty water,already growing on the backs of tortoises and killing them, here on posts, this area is normally fresh water above the barrages but it is not.
The next shows boat landings that would normally be in deep water now high and dry. In some places it looks as if there is plenty of water but so much of it is so very shallow that recreational boaties are having a hard time getting any where.
The next is of a boat moored and leaning on its side, now moored to the bottom, and the extent of mud between the land and the water. Those in the back ground are in slightly deeper water near the remaining channel, but for how long?
Finally a view of the northern shore of Hindmarsh Island, more exposed mud and sand.
What we saw further on was even more depressing but I will put those up tomorrow.
Click on the photos for a larger picture.
We are about to enter July, we are way way below our average for June and these are our wet and wintry months, even when we get rain it is only a few millimeters not the inches we should be getting.
High winds today and that is drying things out even more.
In my opinion this is worse than last year.

A bit of fun and nonsense

I knitted this!! I am sure if I tried I would never do it again, it is for my embellisher class with Dale and we had to knit a loose piece winding the wool around the needle after every stitch, well like Topsy it grew because I had no idea what I was doing but I ended up with this rather nice ruffle.
I am also knitting squares which are more rectangles than squares and that and shopping and washing the dreaded floors has kept me out of mischief.
John's blood pressure monitor did bleep and bloop all night so sleep was a little interesting but it is now off again thank goodness.
We are out to dinner with friends tonight so must off and feed the chooks and dogs, and of course Oscar.

In the post

today I received in the post this lovely post card from Karrin Hurd of California, I am part of the post card swap on stitching fingers, I must get mine off.
the second is some bits that didnt work all that well for my challenge for the embellish workshop, I couldnt quite get my head around this next time I will know what to do and do it better but I havent time to re do it.
We seemed to have a mini tornado go through the house yesterday while we were in Adelaide, doors open a window broken, and shredded leaves from my plants all through the house, so that got cleaned up.
Then I finally managed to go for a walk for half an hour this evening, not so easy as my hip is playing up but I did it.
John is wearing a blood pressure monitor machine so I guess he will beep and berp all night tonight in bed.

Yesterday puddles today dust storms.

Mambray Creek, puddles and views and the Broken hill girls in Joy's shop dont you love the wall painting, this was done by Pam Grose.
Adelaide today, saw my mother and the lass who was from Queensland who had a heart attack, she is very tired but seems a lot better.
The news I had yesterday that has been rather devastating is on my boots and sketchbook blog.
I dont feel much like doing anything at the moment so i will be back when I can.

Walking at Mambray Creek

The first morning, the clouds were so low they were obscuring the Flinder's Ranges. The second morning the cloud was hanging on to them.
Our friends farm house where we stay with part of the workshop area and part of my walk with old farm machinery resting under trees with a distant look towards the ranges.
A busy rather tiring day today, Doctors visits with tests, mostly clear thank goodness, a surprise announcement that I will go into another day.
Still havent managed to get all the tidying up done but some ironing and some washing done.
I am too tired to go to beading tonight, and go to Adelaide tomorrow.
Click on the photos and they should come up better.

I am home again

Just a taster of our Grumpy goddess Week end, we packed a huge amount in and after a 5 hour drive 2 hours of which was across the city I am tired.
the first photo is of the foamboard doll we made, she was great fun wrapping paper and wire around her and making a shrink plastic face, I made a mess of my first face so she is holding that.
The second one is of the Broken Hill girls and Carol from Queensland and myself, the droopy boobs are because I had my knees bent to look shorter! All wearing the crowns we started on Friday night and sort of finished by the end of the week end.
More tomorrow when I am not so tired.

Off for a few Days

I will be back on Monday evening but have a busy couple of days after that as well.
the first scan is of a handbag tag I made using a piece of laminate, painted, stamped and distressed.
the second is of my headless and so far unembellished mermaid I am doing with Angela Jarecki on doll street as an online class.
I am taking my time over her as I have been having so much fun with the embellisher course with Dale of The Thread studio.
All have been put on the back burner until after this week end.
I spent all day making lasagna, enough for us and for John while I am away. One is a meat one and one a vegetarian using eggplant instead of lasagna sheets.
After that little effort my hip doesnt want to know me.
And to top it off the damn male pug killed two bantams, he dug his way in for one and I think one of the older roosters came to help and he killed it too. I really hate dogs who kill poultry. And a pug to boot with that flat face!!

Finished embellished pieces

The first two are the ones I hadnt finished before but now have and the bottom one is another sample done for Dale Rollerson's on line embellishing course. I have been having so much fun with this course.
I have potted up four punnets of pansies and it is now drizzling a bit, almost got what I need for the week end together, and been into Victor to get the mail and do some shopping so I can cook tomorrow.
Read a charming piece in the paper this morning that research, I think in America so perhaps it doesnt count shows that x number of type 2 diabetics will die in the next 5 years and then the rest in about 10. This is probably rather inaccurate but a really charming thing to think about when you have type 2, are not madly overweight, exercise and try to keep ones diet on the straight and narrow. (Not sure if red wine is on the straight and narrow but should be ok so long as I dont drink more than a glass a day, - other research says that one glass a day keeps the doctor away!! Go figure it out.)

June TIF done

I had almost forgotten about my June TIF until Doreen reminded me of it on her blog.
I cheated a little with this one as the center bit had been done before so I made it the same size as my other pages by adding it to the other side of the material I had used which brought in some of the colors. I then went with the theme of stashes or what we collect and as I have huge numbers of beads and buttons and a very large collection of shells I thought that would add to the page.
I was off to Adelaide yesterday and then had a late doctors appointment, nothing, just my usual check up but it took most of the day and I was pretty brain dead by the time I got dinner done.
I did watch Andrew Denton's interview with Sir David Attenborough which was delightful and thought provoking all at once. This is part of a 6 part series called "Elders"and could be interesting to hear the various views from those who are mostly even older than me!!

Started but not finished

I spent most of the morning doing the dishes and putting them away on my own as John had gone fishing, why we had four courses last night I will never know, or why I decided it was the best crockery, glasses and cutlery but it was fun catching up with friends and celebrating Robynn's Birthday.
A pretty basic menu. Oysters Rockerfeller, whiting in foil with salad and buttery potatoes, chocolate self saucing pudding followed by cheese and John's quince paste. A couple of nice bubblies to start followed by some good wines.
So after all of that I decided I needed to get some work done for Grumpies next week end, cut out a chicken wire crown, painted some laminated tags, re painted some laminated tags, and then proceeded to make an awful mess of them, cut out a foam core figure which took much longer than I thought it would take, painted the wire crown and then sat at the embellisher and made these two pieces for the embellish stitch and enrich work shop I am doing. The first is supposed to be of the Bluff and Wright Island taken from the photo I took last week. The other is just how to get a nice base of fabrics on foiled felt with chiffon over the top.
These need some hand stitching so I hope to get that done over the next few nights.

Wet walk

I took these photos this morning just before the rain came and we got quite wet. I think if you click on them to make them bigger they will look better.
There was quite a high tide and not many people around at 9.30 in the morning.
we had a warming cup of coffee and came home.
There were a few pelicans and other odd sea birds around the new excavation for the boat launching facility, the rocks came from it as well, lovely textures.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house as we have 4 extra for dinner tonight. It is an oyster and whiting night.
No time for textile stuff but perhaps tomorrow as John is going fishing, although here it drizzled on and off all day so he may get damp.

Gifts from a friend

I went over to see Wendy today and she gave me these which she had bought in America, I love them both, the earrings are of silk, painted and mounted onto vinyl board and are by Suzanne eBllows and are absolutely gorgeous.
The figure she bought in New York at a place that sold trims and I love her too.
A busy day, up early so I could go over to see Wendy, and had a wonderful look at the diary she kept while she was away and all the other goodies she had bought.
Back to get the shopping done and it is freezing cold still and the animals are fed and I am inside feeling a bit tired.

Beaded fabric beads

It has been blowing a gale and cold and with heavy showers, just like winter! For which apart from my aches we are very pleased.
I have been making these fabric beads for the Grumpy week end, not sure if they will go in the goodie bag or not but I had the bases made for ages and decided to finish them off, tying knots has not been the best but I have then secured them with a few stitches and beads. I have just looked and you cant see any beads! The top lot have them I can assure you but the bottom are still waiting for me to do them tonight.
I have spent most of the day cleaning up my work rooms as well as the dining room table and every where else I have thrown stuff.
I did manage to get some foil on felt last night but decided not to get on to that today but do what had to be done in the house.
This is a large house and I must have walked miles.
Managed to feed the dogs and bantams between the showers but was rugged up for the snow I think.

Victor Harbor Buildings

I am not sure of the origin of the first one, it was going to be demolished but now seems to have a reprieve, I just like its odd architecture.
the second one is the old tennis club house but it now only has a few courts on one side and the volley ball is on this side. The Tennis Club has moved to the oval so this was left right beside the sea.
We had over 13 mm of rain last night and high winds, I went to beading and came out and was wet through before I had got to the car and it was an interesting drive home.
Today I have pottered around and not much has got done, my joints dont much like this weather.

Luscious flowers and jigsaw bits

Not a lot to put up today as we spent all day in Adelaide having hair cuts, seeing my mother and buying towels at the sales. I did also get some pansies a friends Birthday present and some transfer paper to have a go at doing some of the stuff in Maggie Grey's book 'From image to stitch'.
I go to beading tonight and it is wet and cold outside.
The flowers are part of The Embellish and Enrich class I am taking with Dale Rollerson, I just love these flowers, all done on the embellisher.
the jigsaw pieces have been gessoed and some painted and some had impasto gel and a couple texture paste and then stamped and painted and the others just painted and stamped. I did this after I wasnt very impressed with the not very deep impression I got on the others. These are fora challenge on expression Studio to use stamps and jigsaw pieces. I may use these after I drill some holes in them for buttons.

Holiday Monday

As it was a holiday today and we had decided not to go to McLaren Vale and the rain which fell all night had cleared up we went for a walk late this morning.
we dont often walk this way as there is not much of a path, behind the bowls club and the old tennis courts and the play ground towards the crocket lawns and the Yacht club. Here the sea weed builds up and looked like sleeping elephants.
The view as we walked back towards the town, cold looking and then the Anchorage where we stopped for a cup of coffee.
Home John cleaned out his sock drawer and threw out old shirts while I clipped off the buttons and made more of a mess sewing up my doll I am doing on an on line class.
The bottom scan is of another sample I have done for the other on line class I am doing with the embellishing machine, I watched Port get done yesterday and hand sewed this up. Both great time wasters!
Tomorrow we are going to Adelaide so not much from then I wouldnt think.

Walk around the Bluff and an embellished piece

This morning we had to be in early to get a freezer a friend had for sale and after loading up the kids trailer we went around by Whalers at the bluff and walked around the bottom and that is the first photo I dont think I have taken this bit before.
Then to my delight we saw a seal playing very close to the road and the rocks. We used to dive all over this area so the bottom is as familiar to us as it probably is to the seal. I had awful trouble getting photos as every time I clicked he had rolled over so I have several photos of the sea but this one isnt too bad.
We went around by the jetty and as it is a long week end here (Queen's Birthday, happy Birthday your Majesty) there were lots of people fishing there and off the rocks and I doubt if any had seen the seal. Probably why they were not catching much.
The next photo is of Wright Island looking rather like a giant whale.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
It was 11 degrees so we stopped for a coffee and came home.
The couple of samples are embellished but not so far enriched, this is seeing what happens when you push from the back of the piece. It is quite interesting.
It is supposed to be raining this afternoon so before that happens I have caught the last of the bantams who have large bits of rock hard "stuff" around their toes and moved them up into a shed with a concrete floor. Probably rats and mice but better than losing their toes.
I am trying to attack my mermaid pattern but other things have got in the way, like painting lutradur but more of that another day.

A mixed bag

the first scan is of some samples I have been doing for a class I will be teaching at the Grumpy week end, it is a lot of bits of tyvek bonded together with Bonding powder, some embossing powder sprinkled on and heated, I wasnt sure if this would work but it did, then some beads and a button and some wire and then all sewn onto a piece of crumpled and painted brown paper bonded to some felt.
the other samples are pretty boring, just how to do it.
The second is one of two pieces I bought from DJ Pettit on her etsy site, I love her paintings and this can be used on a bag or a book or whatever.
Then two photos I took on this mornings walk, one of the Bluff and Wright Island and the other of families on a cold beach. Only about 13 degrees in Victor when we went in this morning. I loved the way the spurge on the sandhills has gone this golden color.
I am hardly able to walk my joints are complaining so much, so I watched the Crows (my football team) who managed to win by 50 points after being down at half time. Whew!

Celina on show

We didnt sit very far back but I still had problems getting a decent photo of Celina doing her thing. the School she goes to had their year 6 and 7 concert which was in the form of a musical, a historical musical about Australia. Celina was part of the farmers at the end of the play and had quite a big speaking part which she carried off with aplomb. I would have died of fright. Her arm is in a sling as she broke her collar bone quite badly 2 weeks ago.
The next photo is of the muslin (cheesecloth) that I dyed using the dyna flow paints and the bottom photo is of me trying to make some sense of picasa and how to make a collage. I was actually quite pleased with the results, the background my leaves from the other day and the fuchsia on top.
Had a miserable day with aches and pains always made worse by doing the weeks shopping, I think the fact that my grocery bill is double what it was 12 months ago is also depressing me.