Such a magic place

On our walk today, just down to where the channel opens out into the actual bay.
I cant get enough of the rocks and birds and flowers and 'stuff'.
Very windy and rough, John wasnt feeling terribly well so stayed in today and the others have just come back but not a lot of fish caught.
I have been doing my home work for the Pam Grose doll class I will be doing in a week or so. I get dropped off on our way home.
We brought the outside table in and there is a strange alcove in the big front room, a lovely window so lots of light and a wonderful view of the channel, I set up my sewing machine and it is sewing heaven! Wish I was here all the time. The best thing is it is out of the way, but part of everything as well.

Todays collage

From my walk a few minutes ago.
Click on to enlarge.

Sunset, crabs and pelicans

Just a few photos of last night and this morning.
the sunsets here are always good and many photos det taken.
We had oysters, warm crab and baked apples for dinner last night, these are thecooked crabs about to be eaten and John being silly with one.
What we didnt eat last night M and I had in sandwiches for lunch today, totally yummy!
I had washing to do this morning and bread to bake but the rest of the day is ours, wandered over the road to take these fellows photo on the little boat landing, pelicans and cormorants all lined up.
Off to have a walk, need to get some exercise after all that food.

Coffin Bay and gettingt here

I made a mosaic of photos, some I took while we were driving yesterday, from home to Coffin Bay, we left a bit after 6 am and arrived about 4.30 pm with stops on the way.
Yesterday was great driving weather and the clouds were absolutely spectacular, we went through a few heavy showers and the roadsides were remarkably green after the last few years when it has been dry and bare. A lot of this is very marginal saltbush and blue bush country which turns into arable land the further south we went.
To get here we go up one side of the gulf and then down the other side. So you see a lot of different landscapes.
Today I did a quick walk along part of the oyster walk, I know I take these photos every year ,but they are always a bit different, the orange correa was flowering every where and in great masses, such a lovely small bush covering itself this year after years of poor rainfall.
The fellows have come in early having caught their bag limit of fish and a bucket of crabs. M and I have had a lazy day, bread was made and a soup, we have walked and I did some sewing.
I was in agony this morning for a while with my shoulder, the bed is not terribly soft and it aggravated it after a lot of sitting and then unloading stuff last nightbut it is now feeling better thank goodness.
I love being here, not a lot to do, good company and wonderful views.
Off to see if I can paint or draw something.

Late autumn colour

When we went for lunch on Sunday in the McLaren Vale wine area some of the vines had lost all their leaves but these were looking quite spectacular in all their buttery gold and green finery.
Also at the winery this Western Australian gum was in full flower, I love the way the gold flowers light up a very dull day.
The last photo is of another Western Australian, this time a large flowered and very spectacular hakea which doesnt like my soil as it prefers alkaline soils this was growing near our Pt Elliot walk last week.
Here it is cold and wet and miserable, the wind and the rain have just about blown all the leaves off the trees and although I love their starkness we havent had cold weather like this for a year or so.
I had a trip in to the physio this afternoon and I think he got a bit rougher with me and I hurt, actually I think my head may fall off my neck!
I am going to see if I can find some quiet sewing to do before I go out and brave the weather and feed the animals.

cloth whispering and skies.

I put this on the scanner so the whole cloth has not been scanned but I have been doing a couple of Jude Hill's cloth whispering series and although I should be on stars and moons some how I am still on hearts, I am being very slow as I wonder where I am going with this, the background is mostly rusted or slow dyed and the hearts came from all over the place. I am rather enjoying just doing slow stitching on this as the pinched nerve in my neck doesnt show much improvement.
Yesterday we went out to lunch with friends, pouring rain and an ideal time to share with good company and good food and wine.
Saturday the storm was imminent, we walked a lonely beach over on the gulf side and it was all misty and blue then at night the sky ranged from orange to pink as the wild weather came in.
So today I have tried to get my head around what I have to take away because it seems to be taking me longer to work it all out. Still cold, still wind, still hard sharp showers coming through.

Yellow and blue

We walked around from a different area of Pt Elliot yesterday, back towards Victor and I found these very cheerful yellow gazanias by the side of the walk way. It is interesting looking at The Bluff and the Islands from a different angle, this is Green Bay, a little bay enclosed with huge granite boulders and then a view across with a blue and misty looking sea and sky.
I took the last photo of the elms by our paddocks turning the most glorious butter yellow this morning on my way back from shopping. Through the last few years of drought they have dropped their leaves before colouring so it is lovely to see them looking like this.

Tide and crane

My neck is not at all comfortable when I am at the computer so just a brief post of photos I took when walking the other day.
The opening of our little river, the Inman with the tide coming in, I loved the way the water was swirling around.
Just a bit further up this blue crane and his mate were wandering in the grasses by the edge of the river and they were very good and stayd for me.
I will be glad when I have a bit more information on this wretched pinched nerve in my neck but unfortunately I will have to put up with it while we are away as I think my appointments are getting so close to when we actually go.

Fabric book and small houses

I hope this collage appears, I never am quite sure what happens when a little box with a red cross appears instead of a photo.
I have had the pages for this small book done for ages but it has taken my re interest in making small books to come to the fore and ignite my desire to finish it.
All odd pages done for one reason or other and finally bound into one. It is very tactile and I rather like it and may see if small Mason who has a thing about buttons and rabbits (his is called racket) would like it.
I made the little houses from the pattern in the latest Cloth Paper and Scissors from some papers I made up while we were on Kangaroo Island at Christmas and hasdnt used for anything. I made the first one incorrectly as all the bent over bits should be inside, I corrected that with the second one. Great fun to make they sit on my window sill in the pink workroom at the moment.
A small walk this morning, and a visit to the physio who wants x rays done of my spine and possibly shoulder as he thinks I have a pinched nerve.
Now to see if I can get an appointment with my GP to get the go ahead. I hope it can be fixed as I cant sleep on that side at night and now I am having restriction in turining my neck, cant make for safe driving.
We have had sun today, so much nicer and I have started on a new knitting project. I think I will sit for a while in the sun room with the cat and do some knitting.

This morning at Pt Elliot

After yesterdays rough seas in the bay we decided to go over to the point at Pt Elliot to walk and take photos. the sea wasnt quite as rough as it had been yesterday, but enough for some spectacular shots and the boys were out surfing by the big rock.
It was interesting because there were families fishing in at Sandtd Beach and it was quite calm and just around the corner you saw this.
The granite rocks are looking beautifully orange at the moment and the sea was really pounding in, spray and bubles and lots of people walking as well.
Quite warm and sunny, infact I got hot while John had sensibly not worn a windcheater.
I have done a barrow load of cutting back as finally it is not so dreary outside, but to my horror one barrow load up the steep track and now I need to find something easy to do.
Actually a nana nap would be nice but I have things to do.
I need to find something to knit and cant find the pattern I am looking for, it is in my head but I need a bit more than that, so in looking I have made an awful mess and will have to get it all sorted out before I can get on with anything else. The story of my life!

Rough seas

After we had gone in to the market this morning we walked along the road at the base of the Bluff, the sea was up and the air was cold, some incredible sights of seas roaring over the small Island, too far away and I wasnt quick enough, but some shots that give an idea of what it was like as we walked from the sheltered area where we parked the car around to where you could really see the waves hitting the Islands.
Magic.
Winter is arriving fast, lots of rain and dreary skies and it is cold, what I would call a more 'normal' season at the moment.
Suddenly I am having friends with heart problems, not one but several, I suppose it is our age, but worrying none the less. Apart from the normal winter aches and pains I think and hope that so far we are ok.
Still time to enjoy what is around us and each other.

A new necklace

When I made this it was supposed to be a bracelet but some how it was too long and I didnt want to try and shorten it so instead put it on a cord and I am really pleased with it, much better than another bracelet.
It is freezing cold and stormy with rain showers roaring through so I am inside trying to get warm, our house is old and has lots of leaks under doors and through windows, so although the kitchen and sitting area of the house is warm with the fire where I work gets terribly cold so stuff starts to migrate out there.
Off to feed the chooks etc berfore another band of rain comes through.
Love the rain, just not the cold.

Whoops, I lost him.

Mixed bag

Today we went to the memorial service for our neighbour over the road. I think I now know why they are losing parishioners at the Anglican Church, a service that rambled on and on and the most boring minister. I think Tim would have been horrified as he wanted a quick service.
A very good turn out of neighbours and friends I think just about every family in the valley was represented in one way or another.
Sobering to see how many of us are ageing though and I always thought I was one of the young ones, even our childrens friends are all losing hair or going grey!
Poured with rain as I made for a run to the car, I just hope it keeps aup as we need it.
The first photo was the makings of lunch the other day, baked mushrooms stuffed with bacon and onions and garlic and breadcrumbs and topped with cheese. Olive oil over the top and a few herbs and in the oven for 20 mins, yum.
Then the Section B stallion who is baby sitting a couple of colt foals over winter, he is a lovely boy and the temperaments of his foals are superb.
Finally a bit of fun, Jill Maas has these freebies on her website (just google Jill Maas) a mouse I havent made yet and this goofy looking bird. I have modified the pattern for the next one a bit but I love them, so much fun to make I think a few friends may be getting some.
Off to start on a third one.

Sea and flowers

Thank you to all who wished me a happy mothers day, it mostly was, and would have been so much better without the threat of rain and aching joints but that is something I have to cope with.
this boat was in the bay a few days ago, it was all so calm then, still not much wind but cold and dreary.
My Debutante camellia is flowering, always the first of the non sasanquas, and the first camellia I ever planted here in this garden having been told they would not grow, in some ways 'they' were right as some do and some dont but this one is sheltered by the rain water tanks and I can see her from the kitchen window. She is always such a delight. The little flower in the last photo quietly self seeds and I cant for the life of me remember what she is, but she has been happily flowering in a pot the back door for months.
We had a lovely meal last night with half the family, at this stage Mason and Millie are very well behaved and a delight to be with, our Melbourne son rang through and paid for most of our meal which was lovely too.
So all in all a good day.