Orchids and this and that

Here is my lovely Sarchochilus orchid flowering. I bought it at the orchid show with two buds on it and now the trick is going to be to keep it going and flowering next year. I love it. It has flowered for about 6 weeks.
I have been playing as well as working a bit today, these are out of the latest Cloth paper and Scissors and are another of Beryl Taylor's lovely ideas.
I just happened to have all the necessary bits so I have been sitting fiddling today. Not quite finished as they need a hanger and some beads at the bottom but they look much better than I thought they would.
Next my terrible bit of stitching for Sharon b's pintangle we have nearly finished Take a Stitch Tuesday but I did these last night and I am having a few problems with my eyes and being tired so they are pretty wonky. I like the last which was the second version of buttonhole stitch with picot, I have done this one before, and the top one is supposed to be Picot chain stitch.
Like my painting and drawing, I enjoy doing these but they dont ever look as neat and correct as other peoples, but then I dont think I am a very neat or correct person!
I think I have perhaps been trying to get a bit much done today, and there is a lot more to do around the house but I am taking advantage a bit of the fact that I have to sit for a while and am slowly getting through some of the stuff I needed to do, but the lead up to Christmas will be upon me before I know it.
I have at least made a list of what I will make this year and who gets it. I suppose its a start but I have a couple I really dont know what I am giving them, family are more or less ok but friends can be a problem!
Off to stuff another doll.

I am bored

I am fed to the back teeth with being good, leg up, minimal walking and doing my exercises. I have finished my book, I have sewn faces on these small dolls and almost finished all their hands and arms, but have lost two arms so will have to sew up some more when I can put my foot down.
The view from the bedroom window, nice but after 2 days really boring.
I get up and wander for a bit, but cant settle.
the knee seems to have stiffened up a bit but I am walking a lot better.
This is really just a small post to say I am in the land of the living but I hate not doing a lot and the rest of the body stiffens up when I am not moving a lot.
Too many to do things going on in my head and I cant get at a sewing machine to do them, not a lot of time before Christmas either and not a lot done, or so I feel as I cant go and rummage in cupboards and drawers.
I will stop grumbling and go and find another book to read.

My right knee!!

I am home, typing this very awkwardly with my knee up and not much to report except it was a very long day, there was a bit more to repair than he thought, I was up at 5 am and home by 7.30 pm and in bed by 9.30, even though I was supposed to ice it up until 10.30 but I was too tired to do anything but sleep. No pain to speak of. icing every 20 mins for 20 mins is also a pain and I am getting bored.
thank goodness there were quite a few blogs to wander through and emails to answer.
Thank you to every one who left good wishes.
Now to be a good person and rest for the next few days. I have things to do but bed is not the most comfortable place for me so I am trying to set up my chair so I can lift the leg.
I cant put up photos on the little computer so have to use this one which is why its not exactly comfortable with my right leg stuck on a stool at a most uncomfortable angle.
Time for another ice pack!

Cowra Japanese Garden

The Cowra Japanese garden is a lovely peaceful place, even on a hot afternoon. We were too late for many flowers, and I think that it is only just recovering from the 10 year drought but it was still a lovely place to wander in.
I think I last saw it before stage 2 was begun, it was first opened in 1979 and stage 2 was opened in 1986. It was designed by a world renowned Japanese garden architect Mr Ken Nakajima and is a Kaiyushiki or strolling garden.
It is the largest Japanese garden in the southern hemisphere covering 14 acres.
I found it very reminiscent of some of the many Japanese gardens I have visited, but with a very Australian touch in the large gum trees that are there, and other plants more designed for our hot dry climate and a cold winter.
Of course I was the only one with a camera, so another shot of R and Sarah.
It does have a web site if you look for it.
Click on all photos to enlarge.
The heat has now gone and it is much cooler and dripping with rain, which has perked up everything in the garden. I really dont like the heat.
tomorrow is Knee day, so you may not hear from me for a day or so depending on how it all goes.

Back Valley to Cowra and back again.

we left on Friday morning, a 3 am start, picked up R at a bit after 4 am and on the road to the big Pony 2 day sale held at Bamborough Stud Cowra NSW.we were looking at an Imperial Welsh A filly and R at a Bamborough Welsh B mare.
After all the fiddling with a float I finally collected Tabbys which was big but pulled very well.
We did seem to go through a lot of petrol to get there though!
Bother some of these are in the wrong order. At Pinaroo when we stopped for petrol around 6 am, the power was out and thank heaven we had enough to fill up over the border, this is our rig in the second photo.
We met swarms of locusts all over the place but they were worse coming home. The view of the road shows the red soil and locust splatter on the wind screen.
We got to West Wyalong on the first afternoon and had time for a wander around the town before a relatively early night.
Up early the next morning for the 2 hour drive to Cowra and on a bit further to the sale, arriving at about 10 am.
The first photo is of the sight of a paddock of brood mares who were to be sold, then on our way home out of the gates, ponies in the back ground, Sarah and R shutting the gate, and the view across the paddocks to what I call 'Fred Williams' hills, he was a painter who loved these hills.
Tomorrow I will put up the photos of the lovely Japanese garden at Cowra.
Sarah bought her pony and R didnt just buy one but three, a filly on the first day and then the lovely mare and filly foal on the next. The prices on ours were reasonable but prices on others were huge and almost ridiculous.
We went back to celebrate with champagne and a dinner out.
It was lovely, met up with so many old friends and some new ones. All very tiring but exciting too.
We stayed in Cowra for 2 nights and as the sale finished relatively early on the Sunday sat and caught up with people, and had time to relax and wander, that is when we went to the Japanese garden.
We had aimed to make the trip home in 2 days but as we got to the town we were going to stay in at around midday, and it was very hot we decided to head for home. 15 hours drive but we had quite a few stops to give the ponies water, fill up with petrol and we seemed to eat a few ice creams to keep us going!
We were up at 5 am the ponies were loaded before 7 am and we here home around 10 pm.
Sarah and I shared the driving this time.
I ache and am tired but have been up and about, washing cleaning etc, about to go to the physio as I wrenched a knee slightly, not the bad one the other one!!
Not looking forward to Thursday and the knee ream out but lots to do before that happens.
It was very hot driving yesterday and is hot here today, we are not used to this sudden burst of heat and the poor garden looks a bit miserable so some hoses on tonight.
We also came home to a new filly foal and one cat dead from snake bite, not mine, one of Sarah's daughters, very sad but this is a farm and these things happen.
I think John and Oscar were pleased to see me. I loved the trip but it is nice to be home.

Kangaroos

John and I went out to look at padddocks the other day and there were kangaroos every where. Big old men with a few does and they were obviously mating.
I was explaining to my UK visitors that a doe (female) could have a joey in the pouch and one in utero so that if anything happened to the baby there was another one waiting to be born.
So a few shots of reasonably distant 'roos and some of our paddocks. It was a lovely morning and I havent been out for so long. It was very enjoyable.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Busy busy, mostly pretty boring house work, and racing off in a car with no shock absorbers to help feed one of my daughters new foals that hadnt drunk, I have never been so uncomfortable driving a car in my life, all the fault of the garage it went to to have an arial replaced! It is all fixed now but I felt terribly battered when I got home.
I am busy trying to tie up loose ends before we head over to NSW early on friday morning, so I probably wont be posting until I get back.
My list today was
iron clothes
wash clothes
sweep floors
make a list for John
water indoor plants
sew up some heads and hands
finish a quick painting.
hoses on outside
feed chooks
start making a pile of clothes to take away
make a list for tomorrow.
Better go and sew a couple more hands.

TAST 37

Keiko's flower stitch. I think I have this right but if I dont some one will tell me. Whatever I did was easy and effective and I really like it. Go to Sharonb's blog on my side bar to learn more about it.
Just a quick post, more tomorrow as I have had a very busy day and the next week looks about as busy as well.

Yesterday

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day going to a lesson in Tjanpi which is the aboriginal term for their form of basket weaving using dried grass, although we used raffia and wool, but then so do they. in the APY lands, or the land of the Pitjantjatjara people. These were some of the women who were showing us how to do it , the second and third photos are of what I managed to get done, nothing finished and then photos of what they had finished for us to get an idea of what it was all about.
I hope I have got all of this right, it is a bit hard to know who is from where but it did seem odd to have the women talking in their own language but using mobile phones, after all these are desert aborigines, many only down here for a short time while family members have medical treatment.
It was put on by the Art Gallery of SA and there were a lovely bunch of women doing it, a large area to throw plant material around and fun to interact.
There is a large exhibition of aboriginal art on show at the art gallery called Desert Country and I hope to go and see it.
I loved the funny sculptures, my bird has a long way to go, but then again I may just leave it as it is. I rather like the rough look of it.
Off at 8 am and home by 6.30 it was a long day but I am really glad I did it as I havent done any basketry work for so long and this is encouraging me to go back to it.
Another lovely day today and I bought a painting but more about that tomorrow.

I am back

A very full few days has left me feeling a wee bit tired.
We had a good show and several champions, then to host the judges for a few days, the nicest people and we had a lot of fun and seemed to eat a lot and see some of our wonderful surroundings.
Now they have gone I feel a little lost!
The first photo is of the judges and their spouses, David and Gillian Sells from near the Welsh borders, who have Priestwood Stud and John and Beverly Batt from Wales who have the Abervegany Cob stud.
The photo was taken on the cliffs at Parsons Beach with the next photo showing the view to the west.
I hope they enjoyed their stay with me, they had some adventures (a snake) saw wild kangaroos, the wild life park (koalas and tame kangaroos, snakes behind glass and crocodiles) our beautiful area and coast line, lunch in the garden and all that goes with this place!
Then some of the roses in my garden. It is warming up and I know that everything will fade soon but the garden couldnt have been better.
This book came in the post the other day and I have been loving it, when I get back to normal I will get into using some of her ideas. I have always liked her books.
Finally a bit last my TAST for last week, I think I have it right it is called Turkman Stitch and was very easy to do and could make a good filling stitch.
I have filled in the forms for my hospital day admission, they want to know my whole life history and I had trouble remembering some of it.
I have the knee reamed out (arthroscope) on the 25th of November, but before then I am going this Saturday to Adelaide to do a day class with central Australian Aboriginals doing basket weaving.
Then the next week end we (Sarah and I) will drive over to NSW for a pony sale, that will be a 4 day long and tiring time but I am determined to get there.
It will stop me from worrying about the knee!

I have been cooking

the bread was done, the cake is now iced, the corned beef cooked, chicken pieces roasted and the egg and bacon pie is done.
I will not be around for a while. I will be at the first day of our All Welsh Show, I hope tomorrow, and then I will be doing more cooking and last minute cleaning before the judges arrive on Sunday night until Wednesday morning.
I havent stopped for the last few days and am not sure how I am going to cope and I think one of the mares will foal tonight.
The girls have been doing a great job washing ponies and sorting out rugs and bridles etc. We will be down one as she foaled yesterday.
No one has time to cook and often they dont eat either until they are on their way home so I try to provide what I can.
Not the best moment for me but that is the way things happen.
So if I dont post for a few days the reason is I am going to be busy. And tired!

New dolls and my rhododendron is flowering

My computer has been having a few problems lately so I havent been able to post. I am also pretty flat out trying to get the beds re made, washing done and house cleaned before the next guests arrive.
I made these little dolls a few days ago, when i needed something to do while I was resting and letting my aches get over themselves. There are another two on the way at the moment.
My rhododendron, who should not be growing here has burst into wonderful flower this year, as P who gave it to me said, its still in a pot, but it has grown its roots through and I dare not do anything to it but keep it watered and enjoy the flowers.
Hay fever is one of my problems at the moment as everything is growing and flowering so well and my nose doesnt much like it.
Went to Adelaide this morning and visited the craft fair, not terribly much to see or do so I left and went elsewhere to buy a crop o dile.
Sad news, Shirley who we visited a week or so ago, and who was one of the Grumpy Goddesses died last night, she had cancer but in some ways it was mercifully much quicker than we expected. No more of her wonderful dolls. As Joy said, she is now trying out her wings,

The Gymea Lily is flowering

We may never see it flower again, it has taken at least 20 years to get to this stage and I am not sure what the next step is, if it dies down and new ones come, in which case we will be lucky.
This one came from Tamborine Mountain in Queensland.
It looks absolutely magnificent and I love it.

TAST 34 & 35

I was a bit behind with my TAST stitches that Sharon b ( see side bar) has been running but I had a bit of quiet time yesterday and did these, not terribly well but here they are. the first was quite fun and is Buttonholed double chain, i had a couple of goes before I got it right but quite like it.
The second rather barb wire looking one was not too difficult again once I had thought about it, and kept on thinking! You will see a couple of mistakes. This one is Spiked knotted Cable chain.
Things are betting busy here and so some things get put on hold and then the weeks have gone so I am glad I have caught up.