Yesterdays walk and a small book of original art work

we walked yesterday morning, the clouds were incredible but it was cold with a sharp wind. we havent walked for nearly a week and the beach had re arranged itself with a lot more sea weed and very few shells. We seem to have an outbreak of what I call 'fluffies' little white cross bred dogs being walked on the beach, I guess they are well loved but all that white hair, and some are not at all well put together. You can tell that on the whole I am a pedigree dog person. (apart from Max who is mostly blue heeler but with a touch of something else, but he is a 'real dog, big and important, even if he is terrified of strangers. I dont dare walk him on the beach, paddocks are more his thing. I spent part of today trying to clean the house, after a bad night with aches and pains I havent quite got around to the vacuuming but I made a small accordion book with some of my original gelli plate art, cut up and re arranged stuck in, not quite finished but you get the idea. They are nice to hold and look through. John had a meeting near Adelaide today so I had better go and at least pretend I have done some of the house.

My week in stitch

Such a busy week it was too.On Monday I went to a Probus club meeting to see if I was interested in joining, I am still thinking about that.then on Tuesday John and I finally got to go for a walk, they are getting a bit few and far between at the moment. Wednesday we went up to Adelaide to have our hair cuts and came home to find my hen had hatched out two chickens. I havent had chickens for ages and the silly hen, who doesnt know she is only supposed to lay eggs and not go broody is a brilliant mother. Thursday we walked and my frine P came down for the night and I packed to go away. Friday we were up early and off for the 7 hour drive to Halls Gap in the Grampians, arrived safely and settled into our tiny apartment. Saturday was the first day of class, I spun paper into string using a hand spindle, not easy, lots of wild lie but the big sulpher crested cockatoos were very much in evidence, and I was tired so not a lot of stitching got done. Sunday was a full day of doing class stuff and seeing people and generally catching up under the ever present mountains. I am terribly tired after all that as well as yesterdays drive home, saw my first snake of the season this evening, luckily when I shooed it away it went, I am just glad I actually saw it.

Home from Grampians week end safely

Lovely class with Velma Bolyard at Hall's Gap, about a 7 hour drive away. Went with my friend P who kept me entertained on the long drive and while we were there. The weather was lovely, I didnt get to a lot of things, like art galleries as we were very busy and I did I have to admit it, get pretty tired. A full on workshop learning to make shifu, basically spinning paper into string and then weaving with it, I found the spinning with a spindle hard on my back but I will certainly do it again, I also loved making the little weaving, I wasnt sure I would finish it but I did and I like the rather rustic look to it. we made several different book styles and most of us probably chose to use the concertina style on which I tacked my little woven piece and added some other collected things for the display at the end of the 2 days. I did manage to make another tine concertina book which I tied with my paper string, and there is a small close up of what the string looks like after it is spun. Velma was a lovely giving teacher and although I tend to fade out a bit at these things I will do more when I have recovered from the long drive home. Caught up with a few fibre forum friends, sat and watched the wonderful wild life that surrounds Tim's Place where we stayed, had a welcome G & T at night and generally relaxed, until the next day. I have fed an over excited Max who nearly knocked me for 6 when I got home as well as the old pug, the chooks, the chickens are doing well, and Oscar, now to organise food for us and then bed!!

this mornings walk

I have already written this and then stupidly somehow deleted it. And I am trying to watch The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which I havent seen in years and really enjoy the silliness of it all. Especially now we are all in the computer age. a lovely walk this morning, after a night of rain, cool and delightful with wonderful clouds. P has arrived as we are off to Halls Gap in the Grampians, tomorrow morning, I dont think we have to leave too early. I am more or less packed. I have 2 chickens!! My hen who isnt supposed to go broody, one of the brown laying ones but she did and we have two lovely chicks I am glad my rooster seems to be fertile. I hope that they survive while I am away. Should be home sometime on Monday.

Week in stitch

A mixed week of not a lot getting done, it was terribly hot and then it rained. I did quite a lot of watching the winter Olympics re runs during the hot weather. I took my grand daughter to lunch for her birthday, saw our Aussie boarder get a silver, as well as our aerialist get bronze, and enjoyed the scenery and the skiing, brought back so many memories. Valentines day and more skiing, just loved having a play on this this week, such funny looking stick figures! Yesterday I was supposed to go to friends to pick plums, and I had a flat tyre, this morning John fixed it and I was planning to go and see what Probus was all about, I didnt think I would make it but I did finally get there, having met John in the car park at Woolies to switch cars over. A pleasant day but warming up, I have managed to do some washing and some ironing. P comes down on Thursday for the night and then we head off to the Grampians, a bit of organising to do. I got quite excited as I thought blogger was going to let me post from picasa, but it wasnt to be. Damn!!

Its raining!

Wonderful gentle rain about 20 ml so far although it is still warm and tropical, I could be back in Queensland. Thank goodness we havent had what Adelaide had, about 70 ml and flooding. John was in Adelaide yesterday and said that getting out of the city was to say the least interesting, the park lands were flooded and so were roads and gutters overflowing. My photo was taken this morning while it was still wet. I have had a lovely time catching up with some of the winter Olympics, cheered Torah Bright on to her silver, she is such a lovely girl with a brilliant smile, and our 18 year old girl who I watched doing a brilliant downhill run, to think that in my day we did the odd bit of down hill and slalom competition, and I have skiied the ladies downhill at the Litzum (spelling? my aged brain cant remember!) in Austria, but not at a racing pace! Those were the days and we were lucky to be able to do it when slopes were less crowded. I have to say that at the end of some of those runs my knees were aching!(Deservedly so as some of my problems come from skiing accidents.) Memories.

Birds of a different colour

I said the birds were getting to me, I have another 3 waiting in the wings to be done. I love the different shapes and colours I can use. When we walked yesterday morning there was a grey heron on the reef in at the bay so he had his photo taken for future reference. I took one of my granddaughters out for lunch today as it was her 22nd birthday. poor child she has so many problems to overcome but it was lovely to see her and listen to her and privately worry about how she is going to manage. It has been terribly hot the last few days, but it was much cooler when I left Victor and although warmer out here not as bad as it could have been. John had to go to Adelaide early to have a monitor fitted and he said it was like walking into an oven when he got out of the car. A record number of days over 40 degrees C so far this summer. There is for cast of rain, a lot of rain, I hope the area in the Flinders Ranges where the fires are gets some of it. Bad fires in Victoria and now the smoke from those fires is hanging over us, it is so thick you cant see the end of the valley. Stay safe every one.

My week in stitch and a walk and a ride

I do hope all of these come through, my week in stitch included Johns visit to the heart guy, more tests to come from that but so far nothing life threatening, a very windy day and the washing done. A walk and no its not a tree but supposed to be a feather duster! I dusted. I now have a new supa dupa phone I dont know what to do with, too many options, I just hope I know what to do when it rings! Our 55th wedding anniversary, a lovely lunch and things heating up. I have been having fun playing with birds, one appeared here on the very hot day and on Sunday we walked and I collected some shells, not sure they look like shells but that is what they are supposed to be. I told you the birds were becoming an obsession, here is another one and I have some more on the go, such fun to do, not sure where they will end up, maybe a small hanging. We walked most of last week and this was one day when the wind was up and we walked around near Kent Reserve, loved the colours in the water and of the kelp. Yesterday we walked and then went over to a fund raising afternoon on the other coast, I took photos as we came home the back way, It is all looking very dry and crisp,. We have been watching the skyline again for smoke and hoping no friends both here and in Victoria havent lost houses or farms, or ponies. Such a worry in our hot dry summers, the increase in human habitation in areas where once there was very little doesnt help.

A bit of play

So very hot yesterday, 42 degrees C in Adelaide and not much less here, although Victor wasnt too bad early. We went into the market and walked but not for long as it was heating up fast. A lot of fires around so another day of hoping that we were ok. We were but of course we had a wind change and friends up in the southern Flinders Rangers are on alert and today it is very windy so not a good day. That fire has been going for over 2 weeks.Such a worrying time for every one and Victoria is in a worse mess than we are, cool today and then we heat up again until the end of the week and probably beyond, although next week end there is a possibility of rain, which would be wonderful, but with rain brings humidity, not so wonderful. There is a cyclone off the Western Australian coast which might send moisture down to us, it would be a huge help in putting out the fires. We are so dry but this year I cant complain as at least so far we have water in the dams so the garden can get some water. Any way, after all that palaver, yesterday when it warmed up I sat and sewed up this little panel, saw a similar bird on Annette Emms blog and decided to see what I could do, looks a bit like the Jabiru storks we saw in the Northern Territory, and I may make a few more. I am in a bird phase at the moment, I can hear the big white cockies in the trees outside today, when it was so hot they were quiet. a young black cocky has also been around trying out the palm nuts. Off to do a bit more hand sewing and try to ease my aches.

Fifty fifth wedding anniversary!!

I dont think I feel that old, but then we were 19 and 21 all those years ago. We went out to lunch and had a lovely bottle of O'Leary Walker Polish Hill reisling and a few tapas to nibble on. Getting hotter again and I had a small nap after coming home, I am not drinking wine at the moment but couldnt resist. Off to feed the animals and sort out a basic salad for dinner!

Morning walk along the cliffs

It was a lovely morning after the last two days of dreadful winds. Not so bad down here but in Adelaide power off for two days and so many trees down it was dangerous to drive. We were lucky in that on Monday we left before it got too bad. Lucky too that it wasnt so hot,although it is now warming up again. We didnt walk yesterday as it was just too nasty. It had calmed down here by last night but the sea was still up. We had our last foal for the season born last night, just before dark, a palomino Section B Welsh colt, all well and the first time mother was very good with him. It is dreadfully dry, about a trace of rain in January and not much in the next few days or weeks come to that for cast. After the lovely damp cool start to summer, I wonder how long this will go on. We do at least have water this year but it is always a worry and seems to go on and on for ever, I think I would rather cold and wet or even snowy!! I am finding it hard to get my act together, spending time reading and doing general house hold stuff, really boring and not at all enthusiastic making as regards painting or stitching! I hope every one in the northern hemisphere is coping with winter better than I am with summer.

The last week

It has been a week of very hot weather, well into the 40degree C for several days again this week. In my week of stitch you will see a lot of walking, we got up early and walked to make sure we got one in for most days of the week I must say that I did cook, more rattatoui, and did some making of small accordion books but then it got too hot for even that, so I read and slept in between doing only the most important household stuff. We have a much cooler day today but a trip to Adelaide early for John to see the cardiologist ( nothing seems to be too bad but a few more tests,) and home by lunch time! Now it is cooler and all I want to do is sleep. I did manage to indulge myself a bit as P and I went to Premier art supplies who have moved to a closer location and I bought 5 inktense pencils to add to those I have, and some lokta paper. The photos are of the walks on Saturday, very hot and still and Sunday, hot muggy and windy. the papers are full of deaths or hospitalisation from heat related causes. Sometimes I wonder what exactly they are, do people actually go out and try to do things in this heat? I do early morning and evening but try not to go out at the hottest times. A lot of chat about what people are reading, I am going through some of my old who dun its in the bookshelves and at the moment am re reading Arthur Upfields Inspector Bonapart series, Australian bush stories of a half cast aboriginal detective, the stories in themselves are perhaps not that great but his descriptions of the outback and bush people set between the late 1930's and 1960 are I think very true to life. Probably all out of print now (I havent looked to see) but an interesting view of things then as to now. I must have bought a lot of these not long after we were married and it has been interesting to go back and re read the ones I have. We are being told by the weather bureau that the next few days should be cooler and I certainly hope so, but do also feel sorry for those in the northern hemisphere who are enduring floods and snow. I need to get some of my give away presents off, sorry it is taking a while but my excuse is the heat.