Week in stitch, spirit doll 3 and a walk

 Here is my week in stitch.
A day late I am afraid.
Monday we went walking in drizzle. Tuesday I did a bit of weeding. Wednesday John took me out to look at hay paddocks in the red ute.
Thursday I went round and around tidying things up and tried out this new stitch. I felt it was appropriate for what I was doing. Total confusion.
Friday we walked on the beach before shopping and I found some shells.
Saturday we went to McLaren Vale to look at the paintings in the landscape prize and then went to walk on the beach at Pt Willunga.
Sunday I admired the flowers in my garden.Iris and geranium.
Sometimes it is hard to work out what to embroider.
I have finally finished the third of my Spirit dolls, I rather like this one, he took me ages to decide how to make his 'special affects'!
This morning we walked the cliffs at Petrels again, very cold and we were nearly blown off the path it was much more windy than we had expected.
Lovely waves and lots of white lace of foam and then this lovely granite boulder with orange lichen on it. It looks yellow in the photo but it was orange.
I am trying to tidy the house as I have house guests next week, but I am being rather slow about it.

Around the garden

A few photos I took the other day while wandering around the garden with my camera.
I do love this time of the year and we have on the whole had a damp and lovely October with only a few really hot days.
This is when I realise what lovely things I planted in the past and who are still managing even with a reasonable amount of neglect.
The roses that survived the drought in particular.
Mummy's brown iris is flowering for her birthday she would have been 101 yesterday.
Being part of my life for so long, I do miss her, so often I think I should tell her something that has just happened or she would be interested in
as I did when I visited her once a week for so long.
 Not that I think she would have wanted to be 101!

Such a lovely day

Yesterday John and I went over to McLaren Vale to see some of the paintings in the fleureu biennial landscape prize. we didnt see them all  but to say I was disappointed in what I saw is being kind. I hope the better ones were where we didnt go.
We had a lovely lunch at Red Poles, sitting on the veranda,very pleasant and I rather liked some of the understated stuff that was in their gallery, cant remember her name.
I think the highlight was the barrel tops that David Dridan had got together and was on display at Wirra Wirra.
From there we wandered through the area, photos of lovely vistas, the one from Kay's winery and another on the drive to Pt Willunga on Malpas road of vines with the hills behind.
The best time to visit while everything still looks fresh.
Pt Willunga on a glorious day, some one had manufactured a lovely fence of sticks and then walking down to the beach with the remains of the jetty still there.
A wedding at the base of the steps on the beach, a lovely wander along the beach (I found a cowrie) and reminiscing of those strange mud clad cliffs and how as children we would climb them and get filthy and slide down on our bottoms when they were wet.
Then the view as we walked back. Limpets on the rocks, it was a very low tide.
We came home the back way through an avenue of trees on the dirt road .
Almost a photographic overload.
I savour every day that is like that.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.

A little bit of wandering

 John had to look at some hay paddocks and I went out with him, we got stuck on blasted cape weed and walking wasnt much of an option for me, a couple of photos and I did get home safely after we extricated ourselves and he dropped me off near home, I took the photo of calves and ponies as I walked back.
When I was walking towards the back door I took more photos of P's rhododendron and the purple clematis above and my pots by the back door.
a satisfactory little wander I think.
I wont say any more!!

damp days and another Spirit doll.

 Typical Spring weather here, thank goodness the heat has gone and yesterday the wind dropped but it was damp and drizzly all day. Much the same today but the wind is back.
We had a violent thunderstorm in the night that blew out the power until about 8.30 am, the cows were waiting to be milked and not pleased about it, I think they are now done, no early look at the computer, no toast but water heated on the bbq. We do miss our normal routine.
The photos I took yesterday at the cliffs near Petrels' cove, these were the ones that didnt have rain spots on them, it was a lovely walk, the waves thumping and no wind.
I finished off this second little spirit doll yesterday and am about to start on another smaller one today, using up my mat board I had cut!
They are such fun to play with and I have a few masks I had made.
I pulled weeds this morning early too as the rain has just made it easier to pull but I didnt get nearly enough done until my back told me to stop.
The bit I did looks good though so I hope for a bit more time tonorrow, sounds wimpy but we are out to dinner tonight and if I do too much I find I get too tired.
I wish my body didnt tell me it was getting old, the brain certaily doesnt think so.
Make the most of each day as it comes.

Unfinished travewllers blanket, week in stitch and a little spirit doll

 My travellers blanket is still to be finished, I am doing it very slowly, but it warms me in the morning when I check on my computer and have breakfast in my chair. I wont need it for much longer with summer on its way.
My week in stitch, zmonfsy was a good day, and on Tuesday we went to celebrate the local Tourist Information Centers 25 years. I was in the first batch of volunteers, it was fun but I gave up when John became Mayor as it was difficult to be impartial!!
Wednesday we went to Adelaide for hair cuts, pretty wonky stitches there. Thursday we spent in the garden  and Friday the hoses came out and the sprinkler systems needed to be looked at, very hot and windy days.
On Saturday we went to a marvellous exhibition by Stephen Bowers at Goolwa, he decorates pots absolutely beautifully, and at time with a huge sence of fun. The willow pattern appears in many but in a very Australian context.
Sunday we finally went for a walk, waves showing their 'manes' being blown back by the northerly wind.
I am also having fun playing with these little spirits, paper and beads and polymer clay.
Click to enlarge photos.

Blogger playing up, photos of this mornings walk

Walking this morning

 It is quite hot and there was a northerly blowing so the waves were quite spectacular as we walked on the beach near Kent Reserve.
We left not long after 8 am and were home around 9.30, about all I can manage.
We havent walked for a week and I was feeling it by the time I got back to the car.
Hoping for rain.

In the garden

 My geranium maderense in full head of blooms, love this plant and it has lovely leaves when not in flower.
P's rhododendron, I have three flower heads on it this year, it always seems to flower late and this year the windy weather has not helped it, but it is now out of its pot and I hope enjoying being in the ground. I am a bit worried as we had to cut back the plum tree and wisteria it was under and it will need to be shaded in summer.
Zepherine Drouin, she was waving around in the wind but is by the garage and luckily is almost thornless, rather a strident colour but I really dont mind as she flowers steadily through the year.
The wind has been awful, I keep sniffing and sneezing and snuffling from the hay fever so going out in the wind is not pleasant. Just once I would love a soft, mild spring ( and followed by a nice summer too) but it wont happen.
The dreadful fires in NSW are all giving us much to think about as there is a lot of growth along the road sides.

Travelling shrine

 Arrived today, one of Barry Smiths amazing travelling shrines. I am not sure why these things come when I am feeling down ( knee and joint aches, changeable weather, dont ask!!).
Any way here it is with a small offering of pink hawthorn flowers. I love it and I can see I will have a new travelling companion.
Next photo is the beautiful box it came in with black silk and felt inside. I love the whole concept.
So thank you for Maya of the rosebud gallery for organising this for me, as I cant get to things in person it is wonderful to occasionally get something for myself (the fact that I had a birthday and family had given me some money helped)
Barry's blog rustnstuff is here.
Hope this works, google seems to have changed a few things again.
Weather is awful, cold and still windy, yesterday was hot and windy. I wish the wind would stop as it plays merry h... with my hayfever.

Stitch and walk

 Here is my week in stitch, Walking the beach on Monday, washing and ironing on Tuesday. very windy on Wednesday with both wet and sun.
Losing my best and favorite mare during foaling, and losing her foal as well on Thursday. A horrid day.
Friday Max was attacked by willy wagtails whose chicks had just come out of the nest. On saturday we went to the local agricultural show and I bought a 'named' geranium and Yesterday, Sunday, I didnt do a lot but did do some embroidery.
I have also been playing around with fabric scraps and doing some embroidery on small scale pieces. W"e will see where that will go, perhaps several put together as a small art quilt.
This morning it was cold and damp and windy but we walked along the cliffs near Petrels' lots of noisy thumping waves and froth and bubble a great walk.

A lovely day yesterday

 After all the traumas of the week it was lovely to catch up with Joy and her family for a cup of coffee in town, they were going on so we then headed over to Pt elliot for the Agricultural show. No photos, I am not sure why not.
Caught up with Sarah and the ponies who had done well, always nice to get a ridden championship in open company.
Caught up with a few friends and bought myself a new geranium (named!!) but its flowers have gone off a bit and for a $1 a lovely big pot of Johnny jump ups that are gracing the new area I now have around the new water tanks. No photops as the weather has been foul, windy damp and cool.
I shouldnt say it is foul as I really prefer that weather to what we are going to get in summer.
Then when we got home friends rang and suggested an impromptu dinner from her deep freeze, as she is a brilliant cook it was great and to catch up with friends I havent managed to see for ages.
I felt quite the social butterfly after the very quiet life we have been leading.
A walk around her garden was a delight, no weeds in sight, not like mine.
I was inspired this morning though to take a couple of photos, the first is the view from our bedroom window, see things are flowering all on their own.
John has brought in to the bathroom from the orchid house this heavenly zygopetalum, not only does it have exotic looking flowers but it has a heavenly perfume to which is added the perfume of the dendrobium delicatum 'red'. I had forgotten I had this one until it flowered, usually they are non descript pink.
so with the hope of a windy walk later on just at the moment all is well with my world.
Amazing what an evening and day out can do.

RIP Rivington Sunday

When you have animals losing them is awful, when you breed ponies it can be the most awful of all.
This is my beautiful, home bred mare 'Didi' as she was known. All of my breeding for 4 generations.
Yesterday we realised she was having a problem foaling.
A breach birth, one of the dreaded things with horses.
Vet out, dead filly foal eventually pulled after a lot of manipulation by our wonderful vet.
She was terribly tired after fighting to get this foal out.
Horses are such fragile creatures and tend not to be able to cope well. Foaling mostly takes between 20 minutes to at the most an hour, she had been trying for at least 2 hours.
Then she couldnt get up, then she really stressed out and eventually had a heart attack and died.
Some mares would take this calmly, but not this mare, shown over and over for many Champions and Supremes since a foal, she like her mother couldnt take the pain or stress.
We are all heartbroken that her life should end this way.
Never to be forgotten, my beautiful Welsh B mare.

Bugs and another doll

I made these bugs a while ago, felt is so nice to play with, especially wool felt.
Another little girl was finished the other day too, she is Rona who has an adventurous spirit but was shocked when the witch doctor put a rather smelly fish skeleton around her neck to ward off evil spirits. I really dont know what to do with this collection of dolls, they are all residing in the cupboard at the moment, although a couple have gone off but the really have been rather addictive to make, I have so much lovely material and so many stories to tell.
The weather is heating up and the silage stacks are getting bigger.
I am washing and ironing, such a boring job but for some reason the aches are back so I am doing relatively easy things.
Hope all my readers, and I really dont think there are many, have a lovely day.