It was cold, wet and a bit emotional.

Of all the days I could have chosen for the scattering of my mothers remains it had to be Saturday. It had rained all night and there were showers all day and it was cold but not as windy as I thought.
A good gathering of the clan, who celebrated and told tales some of us had never heard before.
Lots of food eaten and drunk, the small ones had a lovely time and really didnt make too much of a mess.
Not much food left over and I think we gave her a good send off, grand sons coming from interstate, a few missing due to other commitments but on the whole a good turn out.
I just hope the same may happen for me!
I took the photo of the clematis by the bedroom door in the rain, I have never had much luck with them but they are doing so well at the moment, infact the garden with all this rain is still blooming magnificently and I really cannot say I had a lot to do with it. Poor John is out there cutting back.

For Virginia

This is a photo I took a few minutes ago of John and Diana, Diana is a friend of my friend Virginia who lives in Germany. Diana is at present in South Australia and she and her sister and brother in law came down for afternoon tea, lots of chat and it was huge fun. I am so glad Diana managed to get here, at one stage it looked as if it wasnt going to happen but we both thought Virginia would kill us if she didnt manage it.
So all is well and we wont get killed!!
the other photo is one I took a couple of days ago of the lone poplar who lives in the house paddock. I think we planted it the year we were married.
It has been very hot and sticky today, I managed another 2 wheelbarrows of weeds early this morning before the lawns were mown, it all looks so much better, now for the promised rain tomorrow, I need the rain but not on Saturday!
I shopped early too and managed to make a chocolate slice, so I have that, tomorrow I am going to cook, I think an egg and bacon pie and maybe a frittata, that with some roasted chicken and some salad should feed those who forget to bring any food for Saturday. the hens have been laying well so I have eggs.
Another rather unexpected foal born last night, I have been too busy (and aching too much!!) to see it.
Once the cooking is done I will be able to relax and enjoy(? not sure if that is the right thing to say) the week end.
Animals fed, one white wine under my belt, I am off to organise dinner.

I cant have enough of my garden

Summer will be here before I know it but we have been having one of the best Springs for years, low comfortable temperatures, drizzle and rain and not too much wind, and the garden has responded as never before.
So have the weeds and they are getting a bit ahead of me but two more wheelbarrow loads this morning has helped a bit.
The peacocks are calling and displaying (and making an awful racket!)
I have been flat out trying to get some sewing done but am so tired at night I fall asleep in front of the tv!
The only draw back to all this outdoor activity is that I get hay fever and have to retreat indoors every so often to stop sneezing.
Well back to work, visitors tomorrow.

Arrived in the mail and a party

this absolutely stunning pin cushion arrived in the mail from Jacquie of Hazelnutgirl blogspot from New Zealand. I absolutely love it and the material it was made from is stunning.
I have been away from home for a few days as we had a 70th birthday to go to, he was our best man many many years ago and his favorite colour according to his wife is orange so orange balloons abounded.
He is also very involved with the museums Waterhouse Club so wandering around on the guests were the odd reptile, this is a leaf tailed gecko, who as dusk came on thought he wanted to explore more than a shoulder.
Our host has owned this Bugatti for a few years but was bemoaning the fact that he would never be as old as it was, it was made in 1938. It has always taken center stage at all their parties.
A wonderful night meeting old and and new friends.
John raced home to go fishing and I stayed up and a few of the Grumpy Goddesses had lunch with one of us who has terminal cancer, she is being very brave about it but I think it may be the last time I see her.
I spent the night with P.. and we got a bit full on a bottle and a half of bubbly. I was up at 6.30 and drove home before the streets got full of the morning traffic.
I have cleaned up a bit and dusted and vacuumed, a lot more to be done but I have run out of puff at the moment.

Clematis and children

My first clematis blooms are out for the year, seems only a few months ago that they were out for the last season. Shown here in the flowering plum which is being weighed down with that and the Japanese wisteria.
We went over to Tab and Johns for a bbq last night, a lovely evening and we sat outside until it got cold with the night getting darker.
My grand and great grand children were there, Millie who Mason calls Mimi! and Mason who is all boy and drives his mother mad but is so cute, and then big sister (to Millie) and aunt to Mason, Celina who Millie calls Cici. Millie was mimicking Celina, hands on hips.
Celina was fooling around with Spot the dog, at 13 she is really rather gorgeous, well they all are but Celina is suddenly growing up, well one minute she is and the next an absolute dag.
Dont you love the rubber boots.
Horrid day today, hot and very windy and my hay fever has erupted although we have had a bit of rain now which has settled things a bit.

Garden photos and more Notebook pages

The garden looks glorious today, now that the sun has finally decided to shine and the skies are blue.
New leaves on a flowering plum, a hanging basket of native orchids, and a cyclamen still flowering.
I managed to clear 2 wheelbarrows of weeds today but there are many more yet to be done.
I have had the results of the MRI, not good news and have an appointment with the specialist in early November. Not sure what he will suggest but at least I know I have had a reason for the pain.
I played around a bit more with my bird stamp and so two pages from my Notebook, one I did on fabric and did some sewing around and the other page was just the birds on the page, not brilliant but I am trying to show what I have done and how it could be used in fabric.
Yesterday I received Gwen Heldley's new book 'Drawn to Stitch' in the post and I have had a lovely time going through it. Lots of ideas.
We will be in Adelaide tomorrow so I probably wont post.
Oh and Julie asked what the cockle train was. Originally it was a steam train that ran along the coast from Victor Harbor to Goolwa and back it was known as the cockle train as people used it to go to Goolwa and go to the beach and collect the cockles. Some times the steam train still runs or it is an old diesel (I think!). A great tourist train and the view from it of the surf beaches is superb.

TAST, New stitchery, new painting and photos!

Here is my TAST for this week, it is called lock stitch and was a bit tricky to do until I worked it out, this is from Sharon b's Pintangle blog weekly stitch to do, see my side bar for her blog.
Next is a small piece I did last night, stitching into a gelatin print, they are so much fun to do and very soothing just using the running stitch. This one is to go into my Notebook project that Glenys Mann is running. I am using as my theme the stamps and lino cuts I have done and various other printing methods, first the print and then the stitch.
The next photo is of the painting I bought at the silent auction on Friday night, called South Coast Scene by Anna Haig. I really liked it as it is the sort of scene I see so often around here.
I even think I know where she painted it from.
Next a couple of photos I took while we were walking yesterday, the groyne which is really falling apart these days and then the scene towards Pt Elliot, grey skies with a bit of break.
I have washed today and it is still cold and grey, I had hoped for some sun.
A house work sort of day, that cat Oscar and his hair shedding!
I hope to get some weeding done, one barrow full will do me, so I am off before it gets too late and I give up for the day.

The cockle train and Pelicans

We went walking this morning, the first time in ages as my knee has not been up to it, and we finally went down to the beach and saw the cockle train go roaring past.
Then first one and then two pelicans in the sea. It was cold and a bit drizzly and these were in the mouth of the little river that has finally burst through to the sea.
Some times they stood, or walked or swam but they trawled up and down, I suppose looking for fish although how they would see any in the muddy water I dont know.
They kept a wary eye on the waves breaking near them I dont think they would be able to surf very well.
I took loads of photos because they looked so lovely and yet funny as well in their large gangly way.
We have been quite social lately, out to dinner last night although the drive there and back was a bit fraught on the back roads, a lot of kangaroos, cattle on the road and finally two fallow deer shot across in front of us. I have never seen them in the wild before, although they are introduced. I think some of the farms that tried deer farming had a lot of escapes as I hear of more and more around the district, and not just fallow but wapiti as well. Wouldnt want to hit one of those.
Trying to get some more stuff tidied up both inside and outside the house, today I am vacuuming up cat hair, tomorrow I hope to get at the forget me nots which are seeding, I love them when they flower, hate them when I have to pull them up and get the seeds all over me.

Miss Front page Girl and some embroidery

Millie made it to the front page of our local paper this week, riding a pony at the local Agricultural Show. She was so pleased.
I have also been playing with these little embroideries, no idea what I am doing with them but taken from my sketchbook it keeps me amused at night.
Some one cut through a fiber optic cable a couple of days ago and mucked up our internet, as well as the 3G on the mobile phones but we are finally back with it today. John was not pleased as he lost an entire days work, I just couldnt post.
We have been very busy, our fundraising art auction was held last night and we think we have raised about $20,000 for the Children's Hospital which is incredible.
I am so tired as I have been helping on it for a day or so but I did manage to buy a painting after my first two preferred ones went way out of my budget.
Damp and extremely cold, I am going for a short nanny nap as we are out to dinner tonight and last night I was on my feet for hours.
The rain has been good though, about 31 mm so we are all feeling a bit happier as the sudden burst of heat dried the ground out so quickly.

Fabric vessel

I found a tutorial in the Feb/March Quilting arts by Leilani Pierson the other day and had a fun couple of days coverting a piece of commercial material that I dont think I will ever use into something that was fun to do.
The first photo shows a bit of the original cotton before I painted it, played with swirls with water soluable oil sticks, put some organza on top, quilted it, then burnt the organza back. Cut it into shapes, sewed them back together and then embellished it with stitch and made a tiny vessel out of it. The lining is not a piece I played with, it is a commercial fabric.
It kept me entertained off and on for a few days.
I had my MRI today but have not got the results back yet, not until Tuesday, although I do have the photos and they look pretty weird! It was an interesting experience.
Still damp, not really much rain and I did manage to pull a few weeds this morning and cant get over how dry the soil is. Of course on top of that I broke off the hose connector on that particular tap so I will need to get a new one. That connector was so old I wonder if the new fittings will fit the tap?

More spring blossoms

We had a very hot day yesterday with a north wind, and then a cool change this morning with a bit of rain, but not enough, The heat certainly brought out the blossom in the garden, the pear trees look stunning this year and when I took the photos this morning it was almost as if we had a light fall of snow with the blossom falling to the ground.
This is the very long Japanese wisteria which is doing its best to strangle the plum by the bedroom door, but I love these very long racemes and I notice a little red fuchsia has wound its way up the tree and is poking a few flowers out.
The crab apple is stunningly gorgeous and the red bottle brush is just starting to flower and all the honey loving birds are gathering around it. I have planted a few of these around the garden, different colours and some flower at different times as I love my small honey eaters that are all over the garden., so many small birds nesting this year.
Such a shame this will be over far too quickly and then we have to look forward to horribly hot dry days.
Yesterday came out of 22 degree C days and suddenly it was 30! None of us were used to it and fell in a heap.
Our friends left on Monday morning, I had a Women's and Children's Hospital Auxiliary meeting all day as our big fund raiser is on Friday and there were a lot of things to finalise.
We had a lovely relaxed week end, out to dinner on Saturday night and a lovely lunch sitting out on Sunday followed by a roast dinner, I seemed to do nothing but cook, but with only two of us we dont do much special cooking any more so it was fun to do, but we ate and drank far too much and back to the diet today!

A small arrangement

We have friends coming to stay to night and tomorrow night so I have been cleaning the bathroom and washing floors.
I went in to the market this morning, John has gone fishing and I have watered the pots.
So I am all ready I think, we hope to go out to dinner tonight and tomorrow will be busy so all I have to offer is a small arrangement that is in the sun room.
I hope it doesnt scare them off, my small and odd collections, we havent seen them for a while, but then we are all getting older too, they have moved into a retirement village!
Black bird eggs are so pretty but the birds themselves are such a nuisance in the garden and they drive away my lovely native thrushes. Bones and shells and rocks and some celadon glaze pottery a friend makes, all on an old Victorian marble topped washstand which I think is made of Huon pine.
I am going to put my feet (knee!) up and do nothing much for an hour.
I hope you all have a lovely week end. I will be back on Monday.

Our Pin Up Boy.

This dun Section B stallion is all of my breeding on the dams line going back six generations.
Isnt he lovely? He graces the front cover of this quarters Welsh Pony and Cob Society of Australia's magazine Action and the photo was taken by my daughter Sarah.
I am no professional photographer and I dont have her equipment but I have fun.
Caroline asked me to take a photo of the peacocks who are displaying at the moment as it is mating season. So here is one of the males, the females are hidden at the moment.
Then some photos of Spring in the garden, Pear blossom, tamarisk blossom (the pink at the back) weeds(!) and dutch Iris.
The quince blossom on the tree, best for ages so we hope for nice quinces in autumn. just hope the parrots dont eat them all first.
Finally the wisteria on the front terrace it has been looking magnificent, the longer Japanese one is just starting to flower around the back. I am rather afraid it will kill the flowering plum it is climbing in but I am very loath to do anything about it. I just love the long racemes and the lovely perfumed, although it is not the white one I thought I had bought but pale mauve.
We are having the oddest weather, cold overnight, misty and damp in the early morning and then quite warm and humid this afternoon. I really dont know whether to water the pots and bits of the garden or not.
Yesterday as I was hanging out the clothes on the line, I had just let out my one hen left near there and was watching it when a tiny rabbit with two white front paws appeared and almost came up to me. It had better be careful as John has been on the war path with a shotgun, there are a worrying number of rabbits around at the moment. We dont need to go back to the rabbit plagues of the 1930's its bad enough that we could have huge swarms of locusts eating everything in their path this summer.
We get a good season and the plagues hit us!
I am also rather concerned about snakes, they are out and about so Mr Oscar is confined to quarters which he hates but I saw a 6 ft brown the other day on the road and goodness knows what could be around the sheds.