The weather is foul

 and I have a horrible cold.
As you can see from the wet peacock taken through the kitchen window, hence the fly screen you can see him through.
I did hop out for a minute to take the view up the valley, it seems as if it has been like this for days.
This is where our weather comes from the west.
I must admit there have been a few bright bits of sun but mostly this is what it is like.
I havent been outside and Max keeps whining at the door.
John tells me its terribly wet and slippery out there.
I have not felt at all well, but perhaps I am turning a corner, yesterday I spent all morning in bed, I am on some magic pills the chemist recommended and they are supposed to make things better quicker. I can only hope so.
I have been surrounded by family with colds so I suppose thinking I wouldnt get it was me being hopeful. Two colds in a matter of weeks is not on.
My trip to Mambray Creek has to be cancelled, and I was so looking forward to it, and I feel I have let people down by not being able to collect J from the plane and take her up today.
In between snuffles and sniffles I did finish this little knitted owl, there was a bit of unpicking to be done as my brain didnt seem to be working all that well.
I have done some drawing and a bit of painting, nothing spectacular, and I think I have a mouse in my workroom cupboard so that has to be sorted out. Oscar keeps the mice out when he is here but when he has to go to the cattery they immediately come in, not as bad as my grand daughter whose cat came in to show her the live rat he had caught!!
Well off to see if I can find that mouse.

Walking this morning

We had a lot of rain overnight and all the creeks were up but had mostly gone down by morning, it is so wet and soggy underfoot and the grass is green but it looks so lovely, the only trouble is the long term forcasts seem to think we will have a long hot dry summer, I do hope they are wrong..
The lemon tree is having an over abundant crop of lemons this year too, I think it got a fright when we had to put in a new drain near it last year, hardly a lemon then.
The almond tree is also in full flower, I keep meaning to find a tree that also is in flower so it will have almonds but there is never one close by and all the ones I saw the other day were on the wrong side of a busy road I really didnt feel like trying out my luck.
I know we are still in August but the days are getting a little longer and there are early signs of Spring.
My stitches are out and although in time, what they cut got anything to show for it yet.
It has been fun though.
Suddenly here is another week end coming, I am heading up to Mambray Creek on Monday, collecting a friend from the airport on the way, and am having to think of what to take with me to play with. I will be back on Friday and John will be home trying to keep things here going.
I am going to cook over the week end so he has something to eat, and some things to take with me as well.
Have a lovely week end.

Lovely new books

 It is pouring with rain and very cold and our house which doesnt hold the heat well when it is windy is cold.
Consequently my joints are aching.
I have been a good girl and been into town and shopped, staggered home and tidied up, Mason was staying with Sarah so I had a chat to him he is such a sweet child, a shame they have to grow up.
Any way these books arrived in the past two days and I have been having a lovely time reading them, not doing much just reading them but books are forming in my brain and I want to get on with a bit more stamp cutting.
The piece of fabric is one I did using calico and dmuslin painted with gesso and newspaper headlines and then oil stick rubbed on top, I have heat set it but am waiting for the smell to go away before I stitch.
 I have also got this far with a challenge to make some pages using this sort of thing as the background and then dressing the girl.
Well I have got this far although having the pieces photocopied locally was not much of a succes  so I have cut the A3 in half and done it on my machine, still not madly succesful but at least I have got this far.
I am knitting a small owl, doing a bit of stitching and generally not doing anything terribly constructive, I did manage to make the soup and I think tonight we will have braised lamb shanks, cant believe the price of them, when we killed our sheep they were dog bones!
I am not sure if my sizing is right.
I am to have new glasses! After 5 years these old ones needed an up grade, not much but a bit, I had terrible trouble finding a pair I liked at a price I liked!
Another pair of red ones will soon be on my face. I loved the red ones I have now, I hope I love the new pair as well.
Back to warm up before donning all the outdoor wet weather gear to feed the hens etc.

seals sky and Oscar

sorry I lost the photo from the first post!

Seals, sky and Oscar

 I was going to Adelaide today to spend it with P but John wasnt feeling well enough to go to an all day workshop so we stayed home.
I decided to go over to Goolwa to see the NZ fur seals that were reported to be at the Goolwa barrage, so having got the mail and papers I headed over to goolwa and as there was hardly any one there I had a lovely time taking photos, there was a barrage open and water was flowing strongly.
During the drought these young males had taken up residence at the Murray mouth but have now decided that there is a lovely wooden structure to lie on and plenty of fish going out. They were not the only ones fishing as there were several grebes diving in and out of the flow of water.
If you double click on the photo you should be able to see where I was on the map and the extent of the Murray Darling watershed.
I headed around to Goolwa beach for a take away coffee there at the small cafe, would have liked lunch but thought I had better come home and there was Oscar, where I had left him earlier in the day! In front of the fire.
I had a busy week end, a nice one,well bits of it were, caught up with friends over coffee on Saturday, and yesterday went to a 5 hour seminar in a freezing cold under cover, but not heated! horse menage in the Adelaide hills, I came home so tired I fell asleep in my chair before I had to make dinner.
I suppose it was worth it but I got terribly cold and I had driven Sarah up who is still recovering from a cold and I am not sure it made her any better either.

Wild seas over at Pt Elliot

 I tried to put a video clip in here but it didnt work, it was a remarkably calm day but boy was the sea up.
Whales had been sighted here yesterday so the rubber ducky that calls itself a whale watching tour was out, the seas were so huge it kept on disappearing, I would not have liked to have been out in it. I would have been terrified and sea sick for sure.
If you double click on the collage it should get larger.
I loved the huge bush of aloes that was in full flower just behind the beach, the little stream coming out onto the beach suddenly got swamped by a huge wave that came right up into the tranquil pool, (2nd from right at the top and then bottom right).
Lovely contrasts between huge waves and spray and the orange granite rocks and the vegetation.
Wonderful, and the sound!
After my early grey grey walk with Max it lifted up my spirits no end.
I have a lovely husband who sometimes lets me waste his time.

A bit of this and that

I am feeling pretty tired, yesterday I had a delightful but totally exhausting day with Millie.
She came with a list of things she wanted to do, she and her sister Celina, who I had looked after once a week until she went to school over 10 years ago had had a chat and Millie wanted to pack into one day all the things Celina did over years.
I made play dough and then found I didnt have any food colouring, not that that mattered, we watched 4 old disney tapes I had that she hadnt seen, she painted, she drew, made a button bracelet, stuck in stickers in her special pink book, talked me into making her a pink horse, I forgot to take its photo and it was pretty strange any way but she was pleased with it and told me that the material she had chosen was the same as on the blanket I had made her when she was born which she still uses, I had forgotten that untill I saw the shape cut out of the material.
By 5.30 I was just about ready for bed, just as well through the day I had made soup, a casserole and biscuits that she had to taste to make sure they were ok.
It was a fun day but as Tab hasnt worked since before she was born, and now is full time, it was a bit of a shock to the system to be needed and again today when I had to collect older sister Celina from the high school as her ears were playing up, they have all had a virus of one sort or another all through the school holidays.
But I did walk this morning, the bottom two photos and finished the top two little textile pieces, not sure what I will do with them but they are waiting to be used for something.
I even managed to clean the house today, so I am sure I will sleep well tonight.

Walking this morning at Pt Elliot

 In between the showers we had a lovely walk.
No whales but we did see a seal raising a flipper and slowly doing what ever seals do. An occasional big swell andgenerally very pleasant to be out and about again.
I did walk twice today, once with Max and got my feet soaked.
It has been very cold and showery, typical winters day I think.
We went out last night with friends to a Bastille themed dinner, the food was excellent but unfortunately we were sitting right next to an amplifier, and I was the one next to that and although the lass singing Piaff type songs was good, her background music wasnt, far too loud and drowned out her voice a lot of the time so I ended up with ringing in my ears and feeling a bit unwell.
Too old obviously and not used to such loud music!
I am still playing with me free motion sewing people and having fun, and a few other things are getting under way which is good. I get depressed if things are not going right and the weather is depressing enough at the moment.
We are trying to sort out our trip to Darwin, having decided not to do a European trip this year, or possibly next, we are looking at where and what we would like to do closer to home.
I am not prepared to go on a long trip until I feel my health is better, so maybe we wont ever get back, it is still nice to dream.

Oh I am having fun

 I have finally had a little time to play with my new to me sewing machine, a Bernina vurtuosa 150, and I am in love!
I have been watching a couple of blogs who do this sort of free motion embroidery and have wanted to try, this is my first attempt, I am sure there will be many more, I love this girl and she is having a class starting with sign up next week, I cant seem to work out how to link to a blog since they re did the blog, can any one help?
any way she is
http://theitsybitsyspill.blogspot.com
she needs a few more to join in the class. I am having so much fun with her wonderfuly whymsical people, and playing with my own versions of her painted ones as well.
It wained for a lot of the night and all morning, we have the creek up again, but not so good, all the paddocks are waterlogged, there is major water over our roads as well as mud from where road works have been done.
Freezing cold, probably wont get over 13 today, I know for some areas that is mild but for us it is still winter, not sure when Max will get his walk as its still raining and now they are threatening us with possibly more hail!
Off for more play.

Winter weather

 It has been a fairly changeable couple of days, typical of winter.
Thank goodness we didnt have the thunder and lightening or the hail of yesterday in some parts of the State. The Barossa valley looked as if it had snowed the hail was so thick and a 17 year old was struck by lightening in Adelaide and is in a serious condition.
Here we have had a bit of welcome sun, then some showers, and more is expected tonight so they say, I am never quite convinced that the weather bureau knows what it is talking about, looking outside could be more reliable.
I picked some of the cootamundra wattle flowers and brought them in for a bit of summer sun inside, it doesnt like the heat so wont last long but it is so nice to see something cheerful.
This morning Max and I walked right up to the end of the race at the top of the house paddock and on, and I took a few photos of him, and the clouds and then as I was coming back down the hill there were two foxes, Sarah was feeding and they took very little notice of her, I know the one I took the photo of is a male and we are pretty sure it was a young vixen in season as they were romping and playing, of course we interrupted their fun. You cant see it but the male has a white tip to his tail which makes him pretty distinctive.
It was a lovely walk.
I just hope they didnt notice that I had let my chooks out.
I am trying to get some sewing done but I cant find some material I am looking for and so I have come to a standstill, so now I am rethinking, we will see what eventuates.

My morning, a few new pieces

 As you can see, it is muddy and still foggy, Max and I walked as far as the race near the top of the house paddock and decided that we really didnt need to go any further. the fog has now lifted but it is cold and grey.
My rubber boots are uncomfortable to walk in so I used my normal comfortable walking shoes and came home with my jeans almost wet to the knees and my socks and shoes soaked. There is some good growth in the paddock even though the cows were in there not long ago.
Thank goodness for the fire which runs permanantly at this time of the year.
I met up with blogger Mieke at the Nambour garden Xpo and came home with some of her lovely pieces. Imagine my surprise when I went to place Mia on the shelf with the other chooks and found a suspiciously similar one, underneath, yes signed Mieke, I think maybe I picked her up in a lovely gallery on Bribie Island a year or so ago.
I do love chooks and birds, and so here is a wall hanging of Mieke's as well and then in the post today, came this wonderful quilted wall hanging that I won in a give away from Jackie Bowcott of Stitchworks blog, I love the madness of it!
I have been tidying up, trying to find space to play, and potting up a couple of  bromeliad pups.
I rather think there is a lot more to do but at least I have made a start and I can now see the dining room table top.
Now to clear space on a workroom tabled, and perhaps find some rusted chain and try Fionas method with tea on paper, hmm, sure we had some old snow chains somewhere, off to look.

We left sunshine for fog

We left sunshine and warmth and tropical colour, the lower left photos, for fog, rain, grey skies and its cold, I took the others this morning. The house was like an ice house when we got home, a fire and heaters on to get a bit of warmth, a loaf of bread on and dinner prepares. Max was so excited to see us and this morning when I took his photo he was roaring around the paddock like a mad thing. Then I discovered that the freezer had started to defrost, so a mad panic to make soup, rearrange things and throw out some stuff. Luckily the other freezer is ok but the one I use most must have had a seal not working as most is still ok but it is not what I needed after 2 weeks away, so I have still not got the washing on, but other things are slowly being done. Double click on the photos to enlarge, more from the back paddocks Barry! Not going to make this a long post, too much to do, but just to say we had a wonderful time away, just wish our weather was a bit more welcoming.

the last two days

M and S have a pool table at Rainbow Beach, I dont play pool but John and J do and here is a shot of them, J about to wipe John out, they have played pool against each other for years, and judging by the shrieks of laughter enjoy it, although the eye sight is getting worse. Here is a shot of a new corner I hadnt seen before in M,s lovely garden, she has used a lot of different coloured bromeliads and it works so well up here. A little bit of the country around Amamore where friends live, such a lovely spot, and then finally the Nambour Showgrounds, taken as I struggled up the hill, not realising what a very long walk we would have to the car. I was silly and didnt take any photos of the magnificent plants for sale, there were so many people it was difficult to get my camera out. did I say it was the big garden Xpo? A lovely spot but in a hollow and parking was at a premium and we all got rather hot and bothered. Today, go to my other blog, on my side bar, to see what we did.

Maleny to Rainbow Beach

Yesterday we drove up from the Gold Coast to Maleny where we had lunch and a wander around until we found our way to Barry Smith of Rustnstuff blog and his partner Fiona whose blog at the moment i cant recall (I had to finish the red wine for lunch!!) but she does calligraphy and books while Barry does metal manipulations and brilliant both of them are. I came away with my brain buzzing, probably unfortunately in too many directions, but it was oh so stimulating to see their lovely house and workrooms (studios) Barry looked ok after his heart problems but admitted to being tired after we left. We tried to catch up with Jo Murray who paints the most interesting stuff, her blog is I think Jo Murray Studios, I am typing this under difficulties, and she left me the most amazing small painting. In Barry and Fiona's house I sort of caught up with Robin Gordon as they have an exquisite example of her carving, talk about lusting after something! It was so beautiful. The joys of blogs and meeting like minded and interesting people. A photo of J, Fiona, Barry and john, not the best but a lovely memory, I think somewhere is the photo of their coffee bushes too. Then on to Rainbow and catching up with M and S, photo of J and M walking the beach this morning, I found some lovely shells but my walking is still rather slow, beautiful to be there, so photos of waves, the coloured sands, view from M and S balcony last night, I did get a sand fly bite but found that ti tree oil stops the itch, thank goodness. M's garden and a small shot of the interior that I could see from the deck. We are having a wonderful holiday, at last we are both relaxing, hope those are reading this are enjoying it as much as we are! Double click to enlarge the photos.