Two walks, flowers and I won a give away.

I walked Max early this morning again, there was a southerly wind blowing and it was quite cold, more sunrise! The magpies were caroling as I walked back.
I went around the garden turning on hoses and took a few photos, of an early belladonna lily, usually these are out just before the season breaks but they have been very confused over the last few years so i dont hold my breath any more. The big cactus by the house is flowering and the red cedar, having been visited by a zillion butterflies earlier has set seed, loads of seed.
Then we had to go into town to get the papers and mail and so had a quick cold walk along the beach at Encounter Bay, the yacht was back and the sea was roaring as the southerly blew in, the tide had been high and had once more changed the contours of the beach and there were huge lumps of sea weed with roots etc attached along the beach where they had been ripped from the reef.
AND finally, in the mail today came the give away I won from the wonderful Jane LaFazio A copy of her dved, watercolour tubes, a set of pencils, a sketchbook bag, postcards and a Strathmore sketchbook. Oh bliss. I have been wanting a strathmore sketchbook for ages.
Click to enlarge the photos.
I am off to see if I can catch a very naughty hen who jumped the fence and now wont go into her pen for the night.

Kangaroos and grass trees

With daylight saving not due to end until the end of March I will be walking in the dark soon. The sun wasnt even up this morning as I set off and it was very overcast and almost but not quite damp. Max may have to wait a while in future for his walks.
This morning the mother kangaroo and her joey were a bit upset and ended up in the pony paddock but they did soon work out that they needed to be in the house paddock, the light in the photo is odd, it really was quite early and I had to crop and fiddle with this photo.
The grass trees (or blackboys) up near the top of the hill had flowers spikes up, some over and one new one coming, you can see the misty conditions in the back ground of the photo if youy click and enlarge it.
Tiny blue wrens were out in the garden as I passed and the peacocks were all calling and starting their day, flying down from the high trees they roost in, the males have now mostly lost their tail feathers so were a bit more manouverable in the windy conditions.
I could here one of the Japanese bantam roosters crowing as the day lightened up and a lone black cockatoo flew over head calling.
Peaceful until people started arriving for work or left for work and cars started to head along the road at the bottom of the valley.
Max and I headed for home, moved hoses around and turned them on and then breakfast.

TAST Cretan Stitch

I have this strange doll which I use to practice stitches on. I am not in the least bit organised this year for TAST, I really want to make a book and eventually I will get my act together and do just that but at the moment I feel I should be doing each stitch, so out came the doll again and the green is my take on cretan stitch. The next photo shows the whole strange doll. As you can see I have done odd bits to her over the years. \Loving this, thanks to Sharon b on pintangle (see my side bar),

A new house and more early morning walks

I think you will get sick of seeing the early morning photos, I walk up the hill behind the house, so long as the cows are not there, sometimes up the race but this morning I turned around and came down the other side of the paddock, more starlings in the dead tree, and this morning there were a few clouds turning a lovely pink, it has been threatening a storm all day but unfortunately nothing so far. Several months without rain and the prospects of more similar months can get very depressing. For the first time in two years we have had to tap into the two top rainwater tanks, I just hope I am not told that I cant water the garden any more as happened all through the drought.
Max and I walked down to the road this morning, he hasnt been down there before and then up through the yards so I could turn on the hoses in the orchard, we managed a good half hour or more which is great, I havent been walking at home for so long and it feels really good that the ligament in my knee feels strong enough to negotiate the rough ground.
We went in to have lunch with an old school friend of mine and her partner, we dont catch up terribly often, but when we do we dont stop talking. A lovely lunch and so good to keep in touch.
I made the house this morning, I found the pattern on a blog I think it is called retro mama or some such thing (sorry, I should check it out but I am in a bit of a rush), it is similar to the other houses I drew up and made but had enough little extra bits (love the bird) to make me want to try it.
This as I keep saying is the prototype! A bit rough and ready but I may find time to do some more, certainly I have enough fabric scraps to use up.
Off to feed the dogs, cat, and chickens, then I might fall asleep, but not before we have the squid (calamari) John caught yesterday for dinner, that and a salad will be very nice, actually too much food after today's lovely lunch, but I did only have a salad and a bit of wine.
John came home with a sink full of fish yesterday, and not all Oscar fish so we will be having a fishy feed for most of the week. Very good for my arthritis, nothing nicer than freshly caught fish.

Morning walk and give away winners

Ok so John came back from fishing( yes lots of fish) and pulled three names out of the hat. Dijanne won the doll and doily, Robin Mac the small bird and doily and Shirley won the doily and the owl, could I have your snail mail addresses please.
I hope you like them.
Today was an awful day, hot and humid, far hotter than the weather bureau said it would be, and so not a lot got done.
I went out early not long after 6 am with Max to walk, he isnt easy to take photos of as he sticks very close to me. The sun wasnt up until I got home but I loved this tree when it was alive, now it is dead it saddens me, but It still has a lovely outline.
As dairy farmers we have to do things we dont often like to just keep on going, and we cant afford to stop either. So paddocks are made smaller, more fodder crops are grown and the gum trees dont like it. Sometimes the cows ringbark them as well. I find it heartbreaking to see places I rode over on the horses now fenced in to smaller and smaller areas.
There is one plus, the races we have put in on the whole are easier to walk along.
So two dead trees which I will sketch and early morning light across the valley, with the sun about to peep over the hills.
I am so pleased that at the moment I am being motivated by max to get out and walk, and that I actually can walk is the biggest thrill of all after the last few months.
No the toe isnt better but it is getting there.
I went in to the market this morning and we are about to try two different posh pies from the lady who makes them, she tells me she will only be there every second week end which is a shame as the beef ones we had were delicious. Tonight we will try chicken and leek and salmon and something.
Yesterday I had to go to inspect some Connemara ponies up in the Barrosa, a lovely place but it was hot and quite a long way to go, so I got home late, John had to shut up the hens, and only managed 4 as when I went up this morning to let them out 2 were already out, thank goodness no foxes had been around. With any luck Max will keep foxes at bay, but he is so scared of Sarah's cairn terrier bitch it isnt funny, and today he sneaked inside to find a 3 times the size Oscar spitting at him and he nearly wet himself!
So maybe not.

Sorry

Somerhing unexpected came up today, I will do the draw for my give away tomorrow.

Australia Day

As John was one of the Australia Day recipients a few years a go we make a point of going in to the ceremony, held reasonably early in front of the Horse Tram Barn.
This year we seem to have a new Town Cry er who welcomed us in the traditional manner.
There was a large crowd and somehow I missed taking the Mayor who is hidden behind the Town Cr yer but I did get our CEO, who was also John's CEO when he was mayor, seems a long time ago now, nearly 10 years since he decided to retire.
I thought the flags looked nice, better than what we have had before.
First there were the citizenship ceremonies and then the actual awards. Speeches were kept to a minimum thank goodness.
We had a coffee and came home, having got out of our better clothes!
I picked this magnolia flower as a bud last night and it is now out and perfuming the house. They dont last long but are a delight when they finally decide to flower. My first magnolia was grown from a seed and took the designated 21 years to flower, it is not in the best place. This one is the so called faster flowering one and is in a better position. I have just been given another, all variations on grandiflora, although the last one is supposed to be smaller again.
Lastly this is a not terribly good photo (my reflection is there) of the painting I bought at the Rotary Art Show, done by Karen Haymon, it is beautifully done I just wish I could do as well. I am delighted with it. Now to work out where to put it on my overflowing walls.
I will draw my give away tomorrow, not a lot of comments so far and no one wants the doll so I may have to work something out.
Scroll down to see what is there and Good luck!

Early morning walks

Max and I have been out walking by 6.30. Yesterday it was hot and sticky, today much cooler with a touch of damp in the air all day, although nothing to measure in the rain gauge.
I have been asked how Max likes Oscar, well Oscar becomes twice his size when he sees Max and Max hides behind me, so far so good.
Max does do a lot of moaning and howling if he cant see me, I am still telling him he is an outside dog, apart from that he is very good and well behaved. We had Tabby and John and Millie over for dinner the other night, we ate outside and he sat by my feet all night. Not too sure of the others at all.
So we have seen on our walks a roo and her joey, a series of ibis, one strawnecked and the other ordinary white ones. A dead tree full of starlings (wretched things I dont like them.) One of the Welsh Mountain stallions with a little young maiden mare, the lone poplar, and the lovely rush by the dam.
John and I also did a quick walk along the beach and found this ribbon of sea weed.
Last night we went to see Hugo, a fascinating film, described as a childrens film but to my mind a wonderfully photographed brilliant film for all ages. I loved the views of Paris. Although thank goodness our little heritage art deco cinema dosnt have 3D, I dont think I would have survived some of the scenes as I get sick. It is well worth seeing.
I forgot, double click to enlarge the mosaic.

TAST 2 feather stitch and clouds.

I am sitting here dripping, our evaporative air con doesnt like this steamy weather and nor do I. It is awful and where my computer is is a hot airless little spot.
I took the photo of the clouds building up on my way home from Victor late this morning, it was 36 degrees C then!
I am still working on this small sample and the TAST 2 featherstitch worked in well. I know itws small but I may build it up later, if I ever cool down enough.
Another dressing on my toe, not sure how many different ones I have had so far, it is almost 3 months and has staggered to a halt.
I hope it is not like this for ever.
Dont forget to scroll down and look at my give away, leave a comment before the 27th.

Meet Max

He is a rescue dog, lived at Pt Augusta and is a blue heeler cross ( possibly alsation?).
Very well behaved although he thinks he ought to live inside and I think he needs to live outside.
I collected him yesterday at about 4 pm and he sat like a gentleman in the car, infact he likes the car, he seems to like me, was a womans dog.
He does respond to his name and so far so good.
The next few days will tell but at least he is making me get out of the house and walk.

Walking and rust

Dont forget to leave a comment on my Give away post!
We walked, a lot cooler and the beach has changed shape a bit, it is interesting when you walk a beach at about the same time every day and how the tide may be approx the same but in the intervening time it has moved both sand and sea weed around.
The sea gulls were all camped up by the blocked up river opening.
I came home and rusted some tissue paper, this was ordinary tissue bonded together. I have done a bit more to it but havent taken its photo yet.
If you go to my other blog (see on the side bar) you will see the wonderful book I have just received in the post, off to explore it some more.

Tour Down Under Stage 3

We went down to the Back Valley corner to see the Tour down Under go past, first the helicopter, who was almost over head and put up a heap of corellas sho didnt like this big bird, then the first sight of the peleton, more of the peleton and finally a support car. All over in such quick time and the stage was over before we got home.
Andre Greipel was this stage winner.
Lots of fun and quite a few of the neighbours down there to watch.

6th Blog anniversary Give away

As my 6th blog anniversary is on Saturday I am offering 3 give away prizes. All you have to do is decide which one you would like and leave a comment on my blog. I will draw the names out on the 27th of January.
I am not sure how exciting this is but I had fun working out what to use as prizes. Goodluck.

In the mail

first my lovely Sentinelle from Dijanne, the first one went awstray in the post, I am so looking forward to stitching her and second I won a give away on elizabeth Woodfords blog of her sun printed fabrics. So lovely to get something in the mail.
My 6th blog anniversary will be on Friday so look for what ever I find for a give away on that day.
I can hardly believe that when I started blogging I had no idea what would open up for me, blog friends all around the world, new places to visit and things to try our. It has been wonderful, I just hope I will be around blogging in another 6 years.
I had a very busy week end, we did very well at the show (SA Welsh Youngstock Show) but I am waiting for my daughter to get me some of the photos. We ended up having the Supreme of show, our rather nice three year old Section B colt. I wasnt there for all of it, a long and tiring drive there and back but I did see one ring.
The next day the judges came to look at our ponies and I organised lunch and then took them over to Tabby to see her cobs.
Just wish I didnt feel tired all the time, today is horrid very hot, screaming north wind and this is the first day of the Tour Down Under and the poor cyclists are heading straight into the north wind with temperatures above 39 degrees C. Horrid.
We are just hoping there are no fires near here.
Off to see what I can offer as a give away.

Buttonhole stitch and rust

Take a Stitch Tuesday this week was buttonhole stitch. I use this a lot but havent had time to go into variations, although I have done those before. Here I had found a felt heart cut out but nothing done to it and in one of my quiet moments it was stitched as well as the pink silk one (although that one has no buttonhole stitch), using a bit of tatting, some lace on the pink one and a scrap of fabric and a button and some easy embroidery on the red one.
I always like to have the odd hearts in my drawer to add onto presents as an extra touch and I must make more as I am running low on them.
I rusted the fabric the other day, the easy way with water and vinegar and steel wool, it almost rusts as you look at it.
I am always using my rusted bits for odds and ends.
A friend is staying and we had a lovely morning fiddling around went back to the art show we went to last night and I bought a lovely little painting, I know I shouldnt but the price was right and I couldnt resist.
I pick it up next Sunday.